


Masters of Conception

by kyburg



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Adoption, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Avengers Fest, Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers (2012), Child Abandonment, F/F, F/M, Fat Shaming, Flip it Flip It Good, It's a small world after all, M/M, Mpreg, Multi, Self-Hatred, Slut Shaming, Teen Pregnancy, Tony Stark Has A Good Bud, Trans Shaming, Under The Radar In A Big Way, repeatedly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 06:10:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 32,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8001439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyburg/pseuds/kyburg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's four months after the Battle of New York, and rebuilding the city continues.  The Tower is being remodeled, Bruce Banner remains in residence there, along with Steve Rogers as well as long-term visitors Clint Barton and Natasha Romanov.  Upstate, Stark Industries splits Tony Stark's time between while Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan resume their lives, just now with SHIELD and Avengers taking up some of the clock cycles.</p><p>Until a ciphered journal turns up in the rubble near the Tower.  Two alphas working for SHIELD also claim Tony Stark is an omega, where any meta-gender is rare, but omegas doubly so.  Trouble is - they already know he isn't.</p><p>The truth is harder to believe than the lie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lady_Katana4544](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Katana4544/gifts).



> Welcome to this year's Avengers Fest offering! The prompt went as follows: " _* Alpha or Beta!Tony being mistaken for an Omega by one of the other Avengers or someone outsider their circle of friends, (if this intrigues someone) I noted this above in my wants, but an A/B/O world where omega aren’t seen as weak and small/constant sex object/baby bearer, basically turn the trope backwards on its head and have fun with that._
> 
> Welp. Get in, sit down, strap in and hang on. Enjoy the ride! 
> 
> (Also, this is the first time I am using tags for their intended purpose as trigger warnings. Read them closely and protect yourselves. On with the show!)

He knew what was coming, the moment he saw Pepper standing in the doorway of his workshop; her hands clasped in front of her, holding a tablet between them, her heels together just so, head bowed to cover a bright red flush across her cheeks. Bracing himself, he pushed away from the bench to greet her with as bright a smile as long hours of work with too little sleep would allow. "Good morning, light of my days," he said softly. "Don't tell me, let me guess. You - or me - this time? Again."

"You," she answered, calm and even and as he watched, she picked her head up to look him in the eye. "An alpha said you smelled like you were in heat, over at the Tower yesterday."

"Yes, yes. Rebuilding New York after Loki trashed the place does require a bit of oversight. Cap called, Bruce needed a pep talk - same old, same old. And now I stink. On ice. Lovely."

"I checked, you took the town car yesterday. Shelby was driving - "

" - but Happy was the last one in the car before handing Shelby the keys."

"Bingo."

Sighing, Tony pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers as he rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "So, standard response, Ms. Potts? We can neither confirm or deny Mister Stark's status as either an Alpha, Beta or Omega and he finds it an invasion of his privacy to keep responding to these inquiries, blah de blah blah blah?"

"Blah, blah. We do, every time this comes up. Your stance on sexual equity being so well known, it doesn't come across as out of character and you've been so generous with other personal details, persistent inquiry only makes questioner look greedy. I'm so sorry, but when an alpha asks - " Blowing air, Pepper looked away. "Short answer. None of your business, go away."

"Yeah, well. When your father was an alpha, people expect things. In this case, they got a beta who could give jack all for any of it." Tossing the soldering iron back into its stand with a light flick of his wrist, Tony interlaced his fingers together behind his head and leaned back in the chair. "It doesn't affect me, bother me or injure me and as long as society wants to make it difficult for the non-beta to live normal, decent lives in peace, I have no motivation to make it easy for society to harm people I consider friends. Hell, they all know Rhodey's an alpha and I'd trust him with my life! Why aren't they asking him?"

"That would make sense, and I don't know. All true, nonetheless," she said, nodding. "But."

"But - this is different?"

"But this is different. The person who called was Natasha, Tony."

That brought him up short. "Since when is Romanov an alpha, Pep?" Tony sat up, moving to the edge of the chair. "That's a little big to be flying under the radar, don't you think?"

Pepper heaved a deep breath before looking up to meet Tony in the eye. "She is, always has been, sterile as a stick of chewing gum according to Nick Fury, who also was on the call - "

"Who we both know is an alpha, thanks to Happy. Fury. Is calling me about something he known longer than I have. This keeps getting better and better all the time."

"I think he likes me. But...the standard answer isn't going to cut it, Tony," Pepper said lightly. "I tried calling Happy, he didn't answer. I talked to him on the phone just yesterday, something related to the rebuild over in Hell's Kitchen needing an extra generator - but today? Nothing."

The first trickle of ice went down Tony's spine. "Happy is a big boy, he can manage himself." Looking away, Tony tried to take a deep breath against simply bolting from the workshop. _This is not good._ "J - how long has it been since Happy left his apartment, no scratch that. How long has it been since anyone has actually put eyes on him?"

The AI's voice responded calmly, even gentle. "Mr. Hogan personally oversaw the detailing on your vehicle yesterday, Sir and it would appear that was the first and only time in a fortnight. He did it himself, leaving the keys for Ms. Shelby to take you over to the Tower. He does have an honest desire to see you cared for, Sir; even if that is in the most basic of fashions."

"That's right. He left the chocolate chip cookies."

"Even so, Sir."

"Did anyone else see him?"

"No, sir. Mr. Hogan has been working from his office at home, where it make sense to, considering the scope and nature his work has taken as of late."

Looking up at Pepper, Tony saw his concern mirroring on her own. "Of late? Happy gets lonesome if you leave him alone all by himself, he'd never do it long-term for any reason. Okay, something's up. Jarvis - raise him."

"Very good, sir," the AI responded. "Sir, Mr. Hogan is requesting your presence in person, instead of answering the call."

It wasn't reassuring to watch Pepper's face fall as she whistled silently. "On our way," Tony answered, standing. "Let him know Pepper is coming too, J."

"Very good, Sir."

Stark Industries' established New York headquarters stood some distance away from the Tower (nice piece of technological innovation, if I do say so myself, Potts) sported not only office space, but a number of secure living quarters that allowed long-term stays without leaving the property. Early on, it had been determined that Tony's mother preferred her own spaces as well as being more secure, even fiscally frugal, so - on site apartments. They predated the mansion by a number of years, and were still in use by a number of scientists, engineers and designers. And when Tony was in town working - so was Happy Hogan. After the battle of New York, he insisted on staying at the plant and away from the Tower to free up more resources for the rebuilding efforts. "After all, Boss." he'd said, "You got Captain America there. Who needs me?"

Thinking back, Tony began to regret that decision. He hadn't seen his friend in months, despite spending as much time as he had in the workshops on the same campus. It wasn't a long walk; down the elevator and then across the quad. The late July heat and humidity was noted as soon as he and Pepper stepped outside, but the air conditioning took care of any momentary discomfort as they went inside the lobby of the apartment building.

It wasn't reassuring when the front door simply unlatched when Pepper buzzed the intercom. "Hi, Boss," Happy's voice said over the tinny speaker, "G'head and let yourselves in, wouldya? Kinda indisposed. Thanks."

"What the hell, Pep." But she only gave him an equally concerned look out of the corner of her eye as she opened the door as she was bade.

The apartment was spare, as most of them were with little in the way of decoration but the door opened into a living room, with the kitchen and dining area to one side, the bedroom and bathroom to the other. Straight ahead, past the living room with its couches, club chairs and coffee table was where Happy sat with his back to them at his desk, computer screens dwarfing him on all sides.

Pepper was first to reach him, she always moved faster it seemed. Tony found himself standing just inside the apartment as he shut the door. The little apartment was as he had expected, but something about the scent was off. Neutralizers. Enough that even he, with his beta nose, could smell them. That, and dirty laundry. Nose twitching, he looked closer. There were some old pizza boxes in the kitchen, dirty dishes too and the little trickle of ice still running along Tony's spine intensified. Happy was no slob, and the lack of basic housekeeping evident wasn't a good sign.

It made some sense to keep the blinds drawn against the bright summer sunshine, but not one window was uncovered. It was unnerving - Happy loved bright, airy spaces. This dim, closed in room shouted something was wrong and seeing Pepper lower herself to Happy's shoulder instead of watching Happy stand to greet her only deepened the dread building in the pit of his stomach.

Then he saw Happy wasn't wearing a suit. No matter what, Happy always wore a shirt and tie, even if only paired with a sport coat. From the back, it looked like a set of sweats which would make sense if Happy had been out for a run, or just finished a workout. Getting closer, Tony discarded that idea. Happy's workout clothes were old, used often and well broken-in. What he had on was so new, it probably hadn't even seen the washer yet.

"Hap, Romanov and Fury called. They're wondering who the omega is." Walking slowly towards the office at the end of the room, Tony found himself putting his hands in his pockets. "Hap, you're still pregnant, aren't you?"

"Like a boss, Boss." Happy answered tiredly without turning the chair around, but Pepper looked up at Tony and shook her head. "You know me. Jus' - this time?"

"There's a problem?"

"Yeah, well. That's one way to put it. Embarrassment of riches, more like. For some people."

"You're not being clear," Tony murmured, reaching out to turn the chair around. Slow, telegraphing both the touch and then the turn, Tony immediately reached behind him for the mate to the office chair Happy was sitting in, seating himself in one smooth motion. "You know I hate that, and it's always a huge tell with you, Happy. You know you can't hide anything from me, I know you too well. What - "

The chair turned, and Happy was facing him, looking more woebegone than Tony could recall. The chair was not designed for someone Happy's size, which was not unusual. They were used to seeing him spill over all but the largest ones on a regular basis, today being no exception. Pepper stepped behind him, resting her hands on either shoulder, and Happy reached up with one hand to pat it aimlessly. But the other cupped the swell of a belly that stretched the fabric of the zipped-up jacket skin tight as it remained loose everywhere else. "Boss. Guess you want a word with me." Happy winced, and the hand smoothed a circle over the pockets. "Yeah, I screwed up. I didn't think about the neutralizers, I'm not in heat but I bet I smelled up the car, didn't I? Didn't mean to, I just forgot - no other alphas around, yanno?"

"Somehow, I just forgot about the car, Hap. Can't imagine why." Sparing a glance at the computer screens, it became obvious what Happy had been doing before they arrived. "Those are the passive scans, aren't they."

Nodding mutely, Happy twisted slightly to change the views. "They're coming in handy," he said sadly. "More than usual, of course."

"You made me promise never to die without telling you - or you, Pepper, I see that face of yours - again, and you made me program JARVIS to keep tabs and tell you if anything ever happened to me...and you said it was no big deal, you'd allow me to see your health status anytime I wanted...and then Pepper chimed in, and I caved and built monitors for all three of us. But I forgot to tell JARVIS to tell me if _you_ got really sick - my bad. Like, because it never happens - "

"Boss, 'm not sick - just."

"Hap, you are really pregnant."

"Yeah," he agreed, finishing the keystrokes. "I'm really pregnant. An' not even close to done, that's the shit."

Blowing air, Tony resisted the temptation to simply look over at the information Happy had collected. "Well, you certainly smelled me up like a fine omega, Happy. You've outed an alpha - again - and I really don't need this kind of attention. But all that to the side, I haven't held up my end if you're having issues and I've been too busy to notice. I owe you - "

"You don't owe me nothing, Boss! You've been nothing but good to me, any debt - "

"Happy." The voice, pitched just so, silenced Happy mid-word. "I owe you nothing but what you deserve. Now, what's going on?"

Happy heaved a huge sigh into the silence as both Tony and Pepper waited for him to gather himself to respond. "I think...a lot of things, not the least of which is how being smug made me stupid. That's what got me in this mess. Gettin' knocked up so I can pass. A little extra weight, nobody notices and I don't go into heat for nine months."

Covering the hand Happy held to his belly with one of his own, Tony brought Happy's attention back to him. "Just...tell me." The huge hand managed to interlace through the tips of Tony's fingers as Happy heaved a huge sigh. "Before I go tell sneaky-sneaky and her boss to push off. Before we open a window, or buy you more clothes that fit. Tell me. This isn't just being pregnant, hell. You've been pregnant all the years I've known you."

"That's a fact," the other man said, "And until now, it worked - didn't it, Boss?"

"Outside of attracting some of the most beautiful alphas I've ever met to the parties," Pepper said sweetly, giving Happy's shoulders a gentle squeeze. "That was a plus."

"Yeah, thanks for giving me a reputation - which I have enjoyed oh so very much," Tony added, sighing inwardly when Happy managed only half of a wry grin. "Okay to touch?" Looking to Happy, he got a nod with pursed lips and closed eyes.

Carefully pushing Happy's hand aside, it only took a quick trace with one palm to discern a bloated, inflated shell with a lot of movement inside. "Before I ask you - and I can ask JARVIS if you're suddenly shy - you went on leave middle of February, while Pep and I were finishing up the load of the arc reactor, before any of the cabling really got underway. That would put you somewhere second trimesterish, at best. This...isn't twins, is it?"

"I had twins. Once," he replied. "Gained about forty pounds, told people I was getting a beer gut...and wouldn't ya know, I took care of it, right Boss? This ain't twins."

"No, I guess not." Feeling a flurry of movements under his hand, Tony looked down to watch Happy's belly _heave to the side_ and change shape. "And that's not normal - for you. It never does that." Then - without warning - everything went hard under his hand, tightening as all the activity ceased. "And that's a contraction..." Looking up, he watched Happy pull his lower lip between his teeth as he nodded. As quickly as it started, it ended and Happy heaved a huge breath in relief. "Well, that explains why you're not walking the properties doing surveys. Just breathe, Happy. Need to lie down?"

Mutely, he agreed and as Tony got back to his feet, he offered his hands for a boost. Not taking any chances, Tony grasped him at the wrists and tugged using as much of his weight as possible as he watched Happy struggle to his feet. But he couldn't keep from gasping as the full effect hit him.

Happy was a big man, every day of his life - it was as much who he was as the mop of curly hair on the top of his his head and the Queens burr in his speech. As he stood, it became obvious most of that stature remained the same, with one glaring change - his belly was announcing his arrival by at least six inches, and widening his waist at least twice over. "I don't think I've ever seen you this pregnant, Hap."

"Sixty-two pounds at twenty-four weeks, Boss. I'm so fucked up." Swaying slightly to get his balance, Happy turned to lumber towards the bedroom, patting Pepper on the shoulder as he went past. "The numbers say five, Boss. The contractions started up a week ago, and even lying down all the time isn't stopping them all the way. I think I'm 'bout ready to lose this whole shooting match."

Tony had never seen his friend waddle, but he did now as he reached the bedroom and carefully eased himself down on the bed, resting on his left side. "They're not big, and they're not regular but they're there." Pepper carefully covered him with one of the extra blankets, and it tugged at the pit of his stomach as he watched Happy snuggle into it with the first contented look on his face he'd seen since they'd arrived. "Tha' nice. "

"Your doctor know?" The query, posed by Pepper in a soft, kind voice made Happy open his eyes and turn his head in the direction of it.

"Ms. Potts, the doctor only delivers. I give 'em information, sure but they don't see me until I'm ready. I can take care of myself, so I do. That's how it works. Nobody knows nobody. Keeps it on the down low, that sort of thing."

"What if something went wrong? Happy - "

"Something happens, you deal. Tell her, Boss." But Tony knew Pepper was already aware. Nothing had ever gone wrong, and to all outward appearances, Happy Hogan was a beta...a big, bluff mountain of a man, but no alpha (that was Rhodey) and definitely not an omega. Never an omega.

Except, he was. And if Fury knew, it wasn't going to be a secret much longer to anyone in Tony's life.

###

"Mr. Stark, you sure can cast one hell of a tall shadow. The idea that you might have been doing it on purpose both surprises and terrifies me, and I don't enjoy being either at the moment." Nick Fury stood on top of the Tower, where the machine Loki had used to open the portal for the Chitari had been, now dismantled and removed. Tony stood there with him, after being directed to meet him there by Natasha Romanov, who sat primly to the side next to the package units on the lip of the low wall.

Without armor, it was a breezy exposure best enjoyed by base jumpers but it didn't seem to faze anyone but him, so when in Rome - don't get too close to the edge and wear sunglasses. "So, you didn't know. The fact I might have had a march on you all this time isn't like you either, Nick." Nearly four months after the battle of New York, there was still smoke in the air, dusty smudges on the horizon. "After all we've been through."

"How long have you known I was an alpha?"

"Always." Tony's response was immediate. "How long have you known Happy was an omega?"

"I don't have to answer that. But I will. Your bodyguard gamed the system, Stark, and again I find myself torn between horror and admiration at his methods. About three weeks ago, Romanov caught wind of something and did a little digging. That's all. Up to that point, he was a blank file outside of his association to you."

"Which, having done your homework - you should have known better. The former Ms. Rushmore could have told you that." Turning to face Natasha, Tony spared a moment to glare at her over the rim of his glasses. "Everybody else, it's Agent this and Ms. Romanov that - and what do I get? Fake IDs, lies and flirtations. No regrets, Nick. I didn't out you. And Happy doesn't have so much as a parking ticket, so what's your problem?"

"The problem isn't us, Tony," Natasha's voice was keen enough to be heard over the wind blowing as she shaded her eyes. "It's not even him. It's the people who get dragged into the public eye if Happy's discovered. He's an omega, living openly in society, that's a huge risk to the general population - wait, hear me out, I'm not saying I agree with that - perceived risk. He's not married or living in a surrogate colony, so he's not monitored."

"Controlled. Because of the alphas. Of which your boss yonder is the biggest, meanest one I know and I have James Rhodes to use as a measuring stick. If the omegas are all kept under lock and key, there's no danger of an alpha losing their little mind when one comes into season. Believe me, I've heard all the stories and for the record, they're all bunk." Flipping the glasses back up, Tony folded his arms and looked away. "I've known my share of alphas, they put their pants on one leg at a time, and modern medicine has reduced a nasty evolutionary trick into a chronic disease that's treated with daily medication."

"All true," Natasha answered. "It would be one thing if any of the urban legends about alphas turned feral by the scent of an omega in heat were real...the problem is, people want to act on it as if they'd had first hand experience with it themselves and eliminate the risk entirely."

"Your point?"

"Agent Romanov is of the mind he would be safer with the rest of you at the Tower while he decides what his next course of action is," Fury said, turning to face Tony. "We didn't discover him by scenting you; we found one of his ciphered books in a cache cleaning out some debris. Clearly didn't want to be found, and it was thanks to Romanov we were able to recognize the owner at all. I'd make book he knew it was at risk, there's some of your nicest tech resting right next to it - so he knows it was compromised. We left it there, hoping he'd claim it. Nope. Didn't move it."

"That's when I asked Kate Shelby to have him check over the town car the other day," Natasha added. "It was clear he couldn't leave and had her drive it instead. He's pregnant...very pregnant, isn't he?"

"If you're any kind of alpha, you know that already. Are you telling me to move Happy? Are you saying I need to hide him away even more than he has on his own already? Is there a law against an omega being pregnant without being owned in a marriage or under a surrogate contract?"

"You know there isn't," Fury muttered. "He can do what he likes...once. Then, you're a known quantity, and people get expectations - to be blunt."

"Dad was an alpha too, Nick. I'm aware." Sighing, Tony rocked on his heels as he considered both Nick and Natasha who having said their piece, now appeared to be willing to wait patiently for him to respond. "He's pregnant. He's also a grown man who can speak for himself, so I suggest we go do that. What did you do with this alleged cache of his, anyway?"

"It's in a lab with Barton," Natasha answered, rising to her feet. "He's not as good as I am when it comes to cracking codes, but I'm better at channeling Coulson and this situations needs one, desperately. He's done nothing wrong, Tony. We want it to stay that way."

"I want to see this thing you found," Tony grumbled. "I have a pregnant omega for a bodyguard with pretensions towards OCD when it comes to his personal history. In short, there was so little of one I had to have JARVIS mock one up back when I was in college to allow Obie to hire him. That's how long he's been with me, in case you didn't know."

"Suspected," Fury responded. "In all that time, he's never been pregnant before?"

"On the contrary," Tony said, walking away from the two of them towards the roof access door. "He was pregnant when I met him. That's how he can pass for a beta - with a little help from neutralizers, of course. He gets pregnant, gives birth and gets pregnant again as soon as possible." Looking back, Tony squared his shoulders and tried to stand taller, as if Happy was standing behind him. "I want to see that cipher."

"You know what it is." Fury, at least was keeping his own council, but Natasha's need to know was getting the best of her.

Turning, removing the sunglasses to tuck them into a pocket, Tony only hesitated a moment before responding. "Tallie, I am going to insist we hold further conclusions until if and when the owner of the goods is in the same room with us. Lay on, Macduff. After you."

"Don't call me that," Natasha muttered, but exited the roof all the same.

###

It was a simple college composition book, the kind they sold in campus bookstores for final exams, ten for a buck. Thirty paper pages, ruled and stapled down the middle, it had a hand-drawn diamond on the card stock cover with the number 7 underneath it.

Inside, every spare micron of space was taken up with lines of code written in portions of squares, diamonds and triangles, some marked with dots in their centers, pentagrams or crosses. Some portions were underlined as well.

None of it made any sense. But it was Happy's block print handwriting that numbered the pages, and once in a great while the code was broken when names were written in Arabic, Hebrew, Cyrillic, Kanji and the odd Hiragana/Katakana. At least, the few Tony recognized could pass for proper names - they were gibberish when pronounced phonetically otherwise.

"It's an old kid's cipher, the kind you used to hide your secrets in foster care." Clint Barton had the little book pinned open on a drafting table, lit from above and under a hands-free magnifier. "At least, that's what this looks like. Anyone with some patience can crack those but you can get around that by nesting the ciphers. More than one, each one referencing another one - you have to know the ciphers, and what order they're in to decode anything. Again, patience...and some luck, you might get somewhere. This is nested at least three deep. There was a StarkCloak GPS squawker with it, no serial number. Just the squawker, no cloak."

Sitting back, he accepted the coffee from Tony with a grateful sigh. "I can neither confirm or deny this surprises, shocks or concerns me," Tony said into the silence, looking back at both Clint and Natasha, noting Fury was still leaning against the wall near the door. "Happy grew up in foster care, he can tell you more about it but I can tell you he grew up with other omegas, and a number of kids they suspected were alphas. It sounded like a pretty typical institutional upbringing, but I can only imagine what a hot mess puberty was."

Drinking deeply from his own mug, Tony took the moment to get a read on Clint. He'd raised eyebrows at the mention of foster care, but said nothing more as he continued to pore over the tiny lined of cramped print. "Puberty is always a hot mess, Stark," he grumbled good-naturedly and then turned off the lamp and pushed the magnifying lens aside. Unpinning the book, he handed it to Tony. "Here, take it with you. He should know, in case there are others out there."

"Yeah, number seven on the cover is a dead giveaway. Maybe. I've never seen one of these before, but the man has his secrets."

Hearing Fury shift his weight, both Natasha and Clint turned to look over their shoulders. "Man who hides his gender by getting pregnant? Is that a list of the adoptions, Stark?"

"It could be. It could also be their weight, length, gender and shoe size. What I do know is that every pregnancy has ended in a healthy baby, Nick. That was planned, and wanted and had a family waiting for it. Every time, no matter of what."

"You talk like he has a waiting list or something."

Natasha only gestured at the book. "Considering? That's not hard to believe."

"Happy was placed for adoption at birth. He doesn't even have a copy of his original birth certificate, for crying out loud." The more he talked about Happy, the less Tony was comfortable doing so. "We talk, when he will. About it. Said once they told him he'd been left at the hospital when his parents found out. That was the only reason they needed, they said. Tell a little kid something like that, who does that."

"Same ones that tell you God had a plan when your parents are killed in a car crash - am I right?" Clint tugged the mug out of Tony's hand, getting up to refill them. "Fuck those guys."

"Them and their big SkyDaddy sitting on a cloud somewhere." Rubbing a hand over his face, Tony accepted the coffee and drank deep.

"You sure about that, Stark?" Fury spoke quietly, "You ever see any of these kids? You realize we're talking about a lot of them, if what you're telling me is true."

Sighing, Tony put the mug down and folded his hands in his lap before looking up towards Fury and the two SHIELD agents. "I knew about the pregnancies, but he always went on leave someplace to have them and came back after completing the heat that followed, pregnant with the next one. Nick, this is his life we're talking about." Letting his gaze drift down to the composition book, Tony felt the imprint of the letters through the cheap paper, the lines like grooves. "I've only met one of them," he heard himself say softly. "I never doubted him before, but I'll never forget what I watched my friend go through just to have a normal life."

"It was long before Afghanistan...back when whatever I did, Happy just rolled with it and kept me from killing myself. And whatever Happy did, I didn't give a shit about, because I didn't care. It was by accident, sheer stupid luck. But yeah, I've met one of them."

###

On an assignment in upstate New York, finishing the certification of a missile system, Tony had received a call in the wee hours of the morning from Happy, who sounded like he had just finished running sprints.

"Boss, can you come up here? I really need you right now, gotta problem."

"Sure, Hap. Was just finishing up some as-builts, already awake. What's your problem? You sound out of breath."

"Boss. It's a me problem, okay? Just come up, and bring all the towels you got in your room - okay?"

"What, you got a flood or something up there?"

"Something like dat. Just - hurry."

He didn't think much of the request for towels, heck - you could call the front desk and have more brought up any time - but he did tuck two of the bath sheets underarm before going to Happy's room, albeit a little surprised when the door unlocked and opened before he could knock.

"Jus' - get in here. Close it - fast."

"What in the world - Hap?"

Looking like he had just stepped out of the shower, still wet and wrapped in another one of the huge bath sheets, Happy let Tony into the room, closing the door quickly behind him before gasping in another breath. His eyes closing, Happy leaned his head against the door, still holding the knob in one hand, the other coming up to rest against the closed door as he huffed out several more breaths, then held up one finger.

_Just a minute._

Looking down, Tony saw the traces of blood mixed with the water still beading up on the skin of Happy's legs and feet. Traveling up to where the towel was wrapped snugly around his waist, rounded and firm as always, Tony watched as his belly gathered itself into a small, tight bundle, rising up against his ribcage as Happy panted harder.

"Holy shit, you're going into labor. You okay?"

A quick nod, then the finger again. Just a minute. And then, gathering himself, visibly started to push, leaning against the door. "M'fine, but this baby's coming now. Not startin' - finishin', Boss. Whole thing started after dinner - thought I mighta lucked out on some bad sushi, but - "

_Just a minute._

Again, his belly contracted, changing shape as Happy took a breath and visibly shoved with considerable might against it, the hand coming down to hold his belly. "It's early. I miscounted, or cos' I always go so late, I thought this one would too and it's coming early, like a couple of weeks - ah!"

"So, you're saying I need to call an ambulance or what - Happy, this is kind out of my scope. You didn't call me up here to boil water."

_Just a minute._

"I got it all arranged, family waiting for 'em - just - ah! - gotta get this done, then go to the hospital and hand off - ah!"

 _Just a minute._ Then, it went more than the minute, Happy's face reddening with exertion. "Oh God, almost there," he said, pushing himself away from the door to stagger over to the desk and its attendant chair. "Here. C'mere. Put some towels under there. Hurry."

"You're not having the baby now - here? Are you serious?!"

"Now. Here. Serious." Folding arms over the back of the chair, Happy rested his head on them and groaned, muscles tightening up his back as well as across his belly. "Doesn't hurt...really. But this part smarts some...stretching out, 'n stuff. Ah!"

"Jesus Christ, Happy."

That made him chuckle, in spite of struggling with the contractions. "Jesus was a fucking beta, Boss. And never had anything to do with the likes of me, or this - ah! Shit. One more - "

Tony put the towels he brought on the floor, between Happy's feet and they were quickly spattered with bloody fluids as his friend continued to pant and strain. "You want me to do anything, check anything?"

"You wanna look?" Happy turned his head and watched Tony blanch at the thought, and grinned at him. "Tell ya what. Try and catch the little guy - I'm not laying down for this one, Boss. Mrr - "

Tony found more towels.

"Water broke real early on, so that's...not...gonna...be...a mess." Clearly working as hard as he could to finish delivering his baby, Happy kept talking when the contractions would let him and Tony remained in disapproval of his priorities.

"Jesus, Happy - who cares about the carpets."

"And I tol' ya - don't cuss, there's no call for tha - ah, shit! Sorry. Jus' a little...more. Done...this...a dozen times. Don't...worry."

"Honestly, Happy? How often do you do this?"

That also got a tired grin. "As often as I can, Boss. As often as I can."

As Happy began reaching between his legs, Tony took the cue to get on the floor with one of the bath sheets between his hands. "You crazy omega, now what do I do?"

_Just a minute._

"...catch."

 

The word soft as a sigh, Happy pushed once more, then quickly reached between his knees to guide the freshly-born infant headfirst into Tony's waiting hands, drenching the towels with more bloody fluids and bits of waxy vernix sluffing off its body.

The infant set up an angry wailing immediately thereafter as Tony rested it on the floor, looking for a dry towel to take its place.

"Christ, here Happy. What the fuck. Gah!"

"It's a messy business, Boss. Get any on ya?"

"You think this is _funny?_ "

"Nah, nah - just, you oughta see your face. You never seen a baby before?"

"No! Jesus, Happy. Dad didn't even let the cat have kittens - what do you take me for? Now what do we do?"

"Hang on, not quite done yet - "

"What, there's more? You got another baby in there or something - shit!"

With surprising grace, Happy took the dry towel from Tony in one hand, the now angrily squalling newborn in the other, cradling it along his arm as he brought them neatly together, placing them on the desk where a pair of scissors and a shoelace, cut in half already lay. "Nah, just some leftovers. But first, let's get this one some attention, poor sap."

The infant, now safely on the desk, lay supine, naked and squalling as Happy took the shoelace pieces and tied off the umbilical cord, one near the baby, the other a few inches away. Stroking the baby and murmuring to it softly, he waited for the cord to stop pulsing and as Tony watched, cut it between the shoelaces with the scissors. "There. All done, baby. Shushu now."

Wiping it down, taking a corner to clear any remaining fluids out of the eyes and mouth, Happy swaddled the infant in the towel then turned and handed it to Tony. "Don't drop him. Hang on a second - there's one more push to clean everything out, and it's coming - 'dere!"

The baby squirmed and howled in Tony's arms, having not stopped except to take huge lungs full of air to continue unabated. Watching Happy squat over the ruined towels, resting one hand on the floor to keep his balance, something looking like liver, the rest of the umbilical cord, thin tissues and more bloody fluids flowed smoothly out of him. "Don' look boss - this is the sausage part of having sex, y'know. If you're an omega, that is. That's all."

There was only one other place to look, and that was down into the face of Happy's baby. Oddly enough, the baby chose that moment to look up as well and Tony found himself in a staring contest with two bright, brilliantly brown eyes with epicanthic folds that tipped upward, skin ruddy but clearly golden brown against Tony's hands and the white bath sheet. Continuing to dry off the baby's full head of black hair, Tony remained absently aware of Happy gathering the soiled towels into a bundle, taking them into the bathroom where the rustle of a plastic trash bag told Tony what he had done with them. "Wow," he breathed, surprised in spite of himself. "Hi, there."

"Hey, bring 'em in here where it's a little warmer, Boss. We're in New York, right? Good thing, we'll just toss this in the incinerator to be burned."

Following him into the bathroom, Tony absently noted Happy had laid out a change of clothing, including something that looked like a disposable diaper and had started the shower. "I jus' wanna get a little cleaned up, then we'll go. Go with us to the hospital, Boss? They'll take it from there, and stuff."

"Happy, who's the father? Doesn't look anything like you."

"Thank God," he heard as he heard him step under the water. "Father was one of those Korean basketball players that came out to do those exhibition games last spring. Tall as a mountain, strong, graceful, sweet - _gorgeous_ \- and didn't want anyone to know he was an alpha, so - didn't tell anyone how close to being in heat he was. I was close too, nearby and ready to go. God, so ready. 'M getting hot thinking about it. Climbed him like a fucking tree."

"I don't remember you being gone long enough to go through a heat, Happy. I never missed you - and I saw you every day!"

"Boss," he said slyly, shutting off the water, reaching over the bar for a towel, "I'm good. And he was ready, so young he didn't know what he was going to do with himself. I know what to do with a knot like that - he went home with nobody the wiser, wham bam! Yeah, he finished up quick too. I let him know I caught, o' course. No problem with adopting this one out, he's got family with plans for him and stuff. Thanked me and stuff. And that's all. Just like most of 'em. Grateful and stuff, and gone. Eh - it's okay, s'worth it. He was beautiful, and a damn good fuck."

"I'm just trying to think of when you could have snuck off to do this thing - don't tell me you did it in the locker room." Jostling the infant in his arms, still enrapt by eyes that never left his face, Tony found himself smiling as the infant continued to squirm, grumble and grunt, now complacent with something to focus on.

"Nah, too many people in there. You know how most of those ladies' rooms have little couches in the vestibules? We went up a floor, nobody around. Locked the door. Fan-fucking-tastic!"

"Just once."

"I only needed once, Boss. I'm just that good! He had a knot worked up fit to choke a whale, poor kid." Happy, having regained some of his modesty now that he wasn't in labor, methodically dressed himself out, placing the paper pad in his briefs before finishing up with the same style of clothing he had worn before. "See Boss? Miracle diet, twenty pounds overnight! So, is - huh. He? She? Pretty? What do we got?"

"Didn't look. Want me to?"

"Take a peek, but don't unwrap 'em. We'll let the hospital deal with the first dump, you don't wanna."

"Baby's gorgeous, Hap." Tony did as he was asked, noting more golden skin with no defects as well as tiny fingers and toes complete with nails in need of a trim. "Boy, " he announced, then looked more closely. "Omega."

Looking up, he was stunned to watch Happy's face fall. "Like me? Are you sure?" Taking the baby away from Tony, he confirmed the baby's gender, taking his lower lip between his teeth. "He's beautiful...just like his Dad. And just the kind of lucky as his Ma, poor kid. Hang on, I gotta make a call."

Handing the baby back to Tony, Happy found his cell phone in the other room and hastily dialed a number as Tony slowly followed him.

The only indication Happy gave to giving birth at all was a slight sway, then a hand on the back of the chair as he reached the desk. "Hello? It's me. Baby's here." Taking in a deep breath, Tony watched Happy's eyes fill with the first tears he had ever seen him shed in his life, and listened to his friend's voice break as he said "Boy. An' omega. Is it still okay wit' you?"

Tony wasn't certain who was on the other end, but he suspected it was either the adoptive parents, or the facilitator Happy was using to place the child. Regardless, the response in the stillness of the room was immediate and clear, even with the speaker of the cell phone pressed up against Happy's ear.

"That's wonderful! Of course we still want him!"

Happy fell to his knees, still holding the phone. "Thank you," he whispered. "Go ahead and come to the hospital, you know where. M' leaving now. Thank you. Thank you. Thank - "

It was Tony that closed the call, taking the phone away from Happy as he met him on the floor, one arm holding the baby, the other holding the other man close as he sobbed in relief. "They still want him," he said, sobbing. "God, they still want him."

"Of course they do, " Tony heard the words leave his mouth, almost of their own volition. "They know you, right? There, now. C'mon, you're beginning to scare me here and after the last couple of hours, that's a tall order."

Snuffling, he chuckled and sat back on his haunches, rubbed his eyes and then reached for his baby. "I need to feed him, if he'll take it, it'll keep him quiet. Then you can hold him while I drive - "

"Are you kidding me, Hogan? Just tell me where - I'll drive - and you can sit there and feed your damn baby all you want! Jesus Christ."

Red-rimmed eyes looked up to meet his. "And I tol' ya - quit cussing. Christ was a damn beta who never had to deal with the likes of me. You really want to drive?"

"I really want to drive you. Why, isn't that what you called me about?"

"Nah. I just needed to let you know I wouldn't be in tomorrow - today - and need a couple of days off. What do you take me for?"

Tony almost slapped him. But, he didn't and while Happy continued to putter around the hotel room putting things back to rights - _Happy, quit! They have housekeepers for that!_ \- he called down to the front desk and had an early breakfast packed while his car was brought around. Claiming an early call to check on material loads as the sun rose at the site, Tony loaded both Happy and the baby into the car where neither the cameras would see them or the lights would show them, driving them to an address Happy gave him, but would not allow him to keep.

"What you don't know, you don't have to lie about knowing later. Sorry, Boss. My rules."

Happy nursed the infant the entire way, eating slowly and drinking the water, milk and juices Tony managed to open while driving. "This is amazing, Boss. It really works. He's eating and eating and eating! God, it feels good."

Slow tears continued to fall down the face of the former prizefighter, the only sound the small grunts and snorts of a hungry infant nursing at his breast. "I never done this before, Boss," he said at last, into the silence. "Fed one, like this. Always went to the hospital, they did everything. Baby was born, they cleaned me up and sent me on my way, no problem, the end. That's the deal. Never even saw them."

"Did they even tell you what you had?" The sound of the road was soothing, the constant fwish of the air passing around the car comforting white noise. "Happy, he should be in a carseat. And be wearing something other than washcloths and bath towels."

"I know, I know," he answered quietly, "Never needed them before. He'll just have to make do with my arms, for now. Poor sap. Yeah, they told me. This is the first omega, and I've done this a dozen times already. I always miss them, but I miss them in my belly, not my arms. Not like this."

"You've never even held one?"

Shaking his head mutely, Happy shifted the child to his other breast, where the infant latched on and sucked greedily as Happy shook his head in wonder. "Hospital always gave me a shot, too. Dried up everything before it began flowing, set me up for the next heat real nice. S'okay, I'll get knocked up again soon. I'm just feeling kinda empty right now."

"Got the next one lined up, do you?"

"You know me, Boss. I got it all figured out. Ya havta, you heat up whether you're ready or not. I live my life, I do my best not to hurt anyone by being...just what I am, me - yanno? And maybe, I can do a little good along the way. The next alpha...it's not anyone you know, but she's been real nice setting things up, been waiting a while because of, yanno. This one. But. She and her gal, they had one and then can't have any more, so. I come in, and fix it a little. I love those kinds of sitches, the ones with kids already. She and her gal are so happy now, and I already know her heats...it'll be...great. I'll feel so good stuffed full and at the end, they get a baby. Really...great." After trying to reassure Tony, it was as if Happy realized he was shedding tears with this baby still at his breast, and any encouragement he was trying to give was falling flat. "You gotta believe me, Boss. This is all for the best. It works out."

Looking straight ahead at the road, now beginning to gray up as sunrise approached, Tony couldn't keep it in any longer. "Happy, are you okay?"

" _No!_ " he blurted out loudly, sobbing. "I am going to miss this one so much, and it's not fair! I can't give him any kind of life, and I don't want to be any kind of father, and I don't want this to change anything with you and Ms. Potts because I love you guys...but. God, just look at him! Little guy has been swimming around inside me all this time, and he's perfect. Something this good came out of me, the only good thing I'll ever be able to do. Perfect, 'cept he's as cursed as I am, it's not fair..." Trailing off into more sobs, Tony only found the package of tissues kept in the car and handed them over without saying any more.

It was a tiny place, deep in the wooded countryside, and if it had more than twenty-five beds in addition to the emergency room that had nobody in it when they arrived, Tony would have been surprised. No cars parked in the visitor spaces, no one milling about outside - silent. Pulling up to the curb, Tony put the car in park and got out just as the doors slid open and a team of people dressed in nondescript scrubs came out to meet them.

They arrived with a wheelchair for Happy, and an isolette incubator on wheels for the baby. Half of them took the baby from Happy, gently but without any apology, saying that he would have be observed to make sure he hadn't contracted anything before getting the standard protocol of preventive medicines all babies born inside the hospital got.

After helping Happy into the wheelchair, one of the nurses turned and looked Tony frankly in the eye. "You're not the alpha," she announced, abruptly.

"Beg pardon? Obviously. The kid's taller. Or he will be," Tony retorted. "Does it matter what I am here?"

The nurse's gaze only became frostier. "It does. It would be helpful to know if you were next of kin or not. That's all."

Somehow, she wanted an apology and Tony just didn't have one to spare. "Next time, ask instead of assuming. That would be polite, don't you think? Or does everything get tossed out when there's an omega in the room, huh?"

"Where there are omegas, there are alphas. At least we can tell the omegas by looking at them. So many don't know which alpha they were with, sir - " And here she placed a specific emphasis that made Tony's blood boil. " - so we don't always know who the responsible party is. Or even which insurance policy to ask for coverage. Even who has custody of the baby. Also, the omegas can't help being what they are, but we help keep everyone safe by making sure they don't attract any rutting alphas that might be nearby."

Suddenly, Tony knew what Happy had meant by being cursed. From birth, the world had known what he was and the expectations thereof, and he found himself clenching his fists. "He just gave birth, what makes you think he'd attract anything other than dust?"

"Boss, don't." So soft, the hand Happy placed on Tony's arm. "She's right. Omegas attract alphas, everybody knows that. And if you get two, you could start a fight. You betas just don't have this problem."

"And until someone finds out you're an omega, you don't either. **Because it never happens that way.** " It was an angry hiss, but he spat it at the little group with as much venom as he could muster.

"The alphas find out, and we all suffer for it," the nurse said baldly. "If you'll excuse us, we need to get them inside."

"Boss," Happy started, giving the hand still on Tony's arm a small shake. "Go on back, finish up the job and I'll see you at the office in a few weeks." Looking down, he saw Happy firm his jaw and nodded firmly at him. "It's okay, they'll take care of me. And him. His folks are on the way, they'll take him home as soon as they'll let him go. They got rules, it's for his own good. Couple of days for me, maybe just overnight. I got a ride back, don't worry. Please."

"Time to say goodbye?"

"And forget all about this. Yeah. Just a couple of weeks. For sure."

Turning, Tony discovered that the isolette and baby were already gone. "Good-bye, kid," he said to the empty air. "Jesus."

But turning back to Happy, Tony wrapped arms around him, tucking his chin over his shoulder and leaning into the other man to hold him close. "Report to the house, not the office," he said into Happy's ear. "No less than four weeks, and if you need more, you just ask."

"Boss, it's okay to leave me here. Go on, now. Love you, man. You're the best."

"And don't you forget, you deserve nothing but the best, Happy Hogan. See you in four."

"You got it."

Tony took a step back, and they took him inside, closed the doors and all was as still as it had been before they'd arrived. "I am _never_ going to forget this," he swore under his breath as he got back inside the car.

On the drive back, Tony made good use of the time and dictated a number of documents, sending them as soon as he reached the hotel after sweeping past the work site to clinch his alibi, then called in after encrypting the line to follow up on them. There was only one person he trusted with the de-encryption key, and she answered the phone sounding as fresh as a cool breeze. "Mr. Stark! What a lovely array of landmines you left me in my inbox today!"

"Ms. Potts, let HR know Mr. Hogan is on personal leave, per the new policies I just sent you. Good morning?"

"Tony - very good, Mr. Stark. I was just looking them over. Exciting!"

"Yes, yes - thank you. Your thoughts?"

"Well, it will simplify the timekeeping, with only vacations, holidays and personal time off to keep track of, removing the individual heat tracking calendars the omegas had to maintain entirely. And you set this new PTO level to be the same across the board, regardless of gender. Very enlightened - the betas and parents will appreciate the extra time, I'm sure."

"What about the elimination of any reference to alphas or omegas? Think that will be a problem with the board?"

"With all due respect, Mr. Stark - "

"Yes, Ms. Potts?"

"Fuck the board. No, seriously. Tomlinson only reminds people he's an alpha when he wants something he isn't entitled to, and he's the only one. We take out the language, we take out the entitlements. We stop making omegas and alphas identify themselves, we stop making them targets for special treatment. It's all don't ask, don't tell and it won't stop there, but - "

"It's where you start. People don't stop being alphas or omegas, but they deserve the same chance to blend in outside of their heats the betas get. Potts - "

"Yes, Mr. Stark."

"Hogan had a baby last night, in his hotel room with only me there - "

"Seriously? I didn't even know he was pregnant!"

"Yeah, well - he plans it that way. That's his natural state, trust me. Next time you see him, he'll be pregnant again and you won't know it then either. Just me, Potts. Like going to the sink to wash his hands, and he just texted me. Baby boy, omega, nine pounds and seven ounces, twenty inches long and his name is Eddie. He says he insisted, and the new parents agreed the baby needed to be named after me - just because I showed up and wasn't an asshole. Seriously, Potts. I don't get it."

"He delivered a nine pound baby in a hotel room?"

"He said he was calling in sick - can you believe that?"

"I can. If you don't mind me asking - did you see the baby?"

"Up close and personal, and no - just don't tell anyone."

"What did he look like? Spill."

"You're terrible, Ms. Potts, that's why I keep you around. No - baby's gorgeous, looks like a Korean basketball player."

"Oh! I bet I know who the alpha was - "

"Seriously? Now why would you think that?"

"Because I caught Happy going into the ladies room on the executive floor when that exhibition game was in town. God, he knows how to pick them!"

"Ms. Potts, you never said a word. I am impressed. Gold star!"

"Thank you, Mr. Stark. I try."

"Be back in the office in five, put the coffee on in four point seven five. Got a long night ahead. If the alphas won't do it, guess a couple of jumped-up betas and a really horny omega will have to. I've have had it. To here, Potts."

"Yes, sir Mr. Stark. But to be honest, Happy isn't horny. He just loves being pregnant."

"Good point, Potts. I'll make a note of it."

"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"

"Yes, Ms. Potts. That will be all."

Pepper started laughing before she ended the call. "See you soon. Travel safe."

After the call ended, Tony looked down at his phone again in his hand, re-reading the text Happy had sent.

_**Being released tomorrow, all systems go, boss.** _  
_**Got shot, on schedule for heat in two weeks.** _  
_**You were right about four, thanks.** _  
_**Baby is with his new folks, all nine pounds, seven ounces and twenty inches of him!** _  
_**I named him Edward for you boss.** _  
_**They're going to call him Eddie, and I even got to meet them!** _  
_**They love him so much. Glad.** _  
_**Sad.** _  
_**Going to take the weeks and go out West, where the Alpha and her family are,** _  
_**so won't be around as much until it's over.** _  
_**It'll be nice.** _  
_**Don't worry.** _

He sent a text back.

_**You deserve nice.** _  
_**You deserve Happy.** _  
_**So proud of you. See you soon. -AES** _

He didn't wait long for a response.

_**Aw, boss.** _  
_**I love you.** _  
_**Now get to work.** _  
_**I'm Happy and you know it.** _  
_**BYE.** _

###

Pepper only had to look at his face as he came onto the floor of the reception lounge, and stopped what she was doing to take him by the hand to sit down next to the fireplace. In the midst of renovating it and the ten floors above it, she had the task of giving direction, modifying and adapting the existing design to the new one they had done in the days after the battle. He, with Fury, Natasha and Clint in tow, had interrupted her making a change to some blueprints.

"Look, Pepper," he said, handing her the cipher book. "They found it down the street. Probably buried in a block of cement, but - "

"It got dislodged," she finished, taking it with careful hands. "It's Happy's, isn't it." She made a resigned little sigh before opening it. "It's just like all the other ones he keeps handy to jot notes in, and I don't know anyone else who writes twos this way but him."

"It is distinctive," Natasha said, stepping to her side. "See. There's another one."

"You know, then," she said quietly. "More than just scenting Happy on Tony. Thought you might have been an alpha."

Seating herself in one of the conversation chairs, Natasha only cocked her head as Pepper smiled hesitantly at her. "You knew? All this time - "

"I was - for a large number of years - Tony Stark's beck-and-call girl, his personal assistant. You know that - of all people. Happy was there when I arrived, and was the first omega I'd ever saw with my own eyes." She shifted a little in her chair, handing the book back to Tony as she turned her full attention to Natasha, hugging her knees with her hands. "It was one of those rites of passage I went through in those early months - could I be trusted, or not. For example, Obadiah Stane demanded I get Tony out of bed one morning, regardless if he was knotted in bed with some alpha or not...I went to his apartments and found him in the kitchen making breakfast, and Happy Hogan was behind the closed bedroom door with the said alpha. I brought Tony, as requested and was considered a miracle worker."

"Obie wasn't anything special, just a jackhole," Tony remarked. "Blanket sexism was one of his many charms."

"I got very good at identifying alphas," Pepper finished. "So, you know too. What happens now?"

"We go talk to Happy, and he tells us," Tony said curtly. "JARVIS, where's Banner? And Rogers, where's he at?"

"Dr. Banner is currently in his lab on level 52. Captain Rogers is currently out of the building, but is anticipated to return in under an hour."

Standing, Tony dusted himself off. "I'm not even going to approach Happy with this unless everybody who already lives here is onboard with it. So - off to see the good doctor, I go. J- let him know I'm on my way, the rest of you - I dunno. Mingle some. I'll be right back. Stay here. Don't bug me."

Of all the people Tony currently knew outside of Stark Industries, it was no secret Bruce Banner was his favorite. Coming over to the Tower now for Tony meant hours in a lab not his own, trading ideas and trying out new theories with someone equally as bright and curious as he was. When Banner had accepted his offer of refuge after the battle of New York, it had meant more to Tony than any commendation or accolade. In truth, he enjoyed Banner in a way none of his older friends could compete with.

But stepping into the elevator, Tony also realized that in accepting his protection, he had made Banner as much a prisoner as he was a guest. And now, he was going to ask him to take on something outside his comfort zone and Tony hoped he could find a way to make it appealing to the physicist.

Like most of his own workshop areas, the wall facing the hallway was made largely of windows and Tony was pleasantly surprised to see Bruce standing at a table inside, watching for him to arrive. Reaching the door, it unlatched and allowed him in without hesitation and he was soon greeting a bright-eyed scientist who was equally happy to see him. "I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon Tony," he said, extending a hand to be shook. "You were just here earlier this week, but I'm glad you come - hang on, come take a look at this - "

Bruce had taken a distinct fancy to the element Tony had invented to replace the palladium in the arc reactor, cataloging all of its features, down to the sub-atomic level. And for the next fifteen minutes, Tony was introduced to a new set of boojums. Bruce was very proud. Watching the reflections of the touchscreens dance in his eyes, Tony then tried to re-direct the conversation - nicely, of course.

"So, Bruce. What do you know about birthing babies?" The query went over like a speed bump, Bruce blinked a few times, frowning slightly. Then he turned and looked at Tony out of the corner of his eye.

"I don't know nothing about birthing babies, Mr. Stark," he deadpanned. "Why?"

"Know anything about omega biology?"

"Only that it's rare, to the point of being nearly impossible to study. Okay, not impossible - I did a rotation once on the meta-genders, early on in school. Mosaic hermaphrodites, like alphas only the primary reproductive role is - wait a minute."

"Yes, Dr. Banner?"

"What do you know about omegas and birthing babies, and is it going to visit my house?"

"Funny you should ask, Bruce. I got visited by Fury this morning, does that count?"

"I'm not that kind of doctor."

"Not asking you. And it's not me - or Pepper, just to get that out of the way."

"But it's Fury, and you - so. Avengers Initiative business? Some kind of protection program?" Closing down the touchscreens, Bruce neatly put away everything he had been working on. "Don't tell me, let me guess. Thor is back, and he's pregnant."

Stifling a laugh, Tony choked for a moment before sobering up to look Bruce in the eye. "No, no - but the mental image you just handed me...hoo boy, I thought you were my friend. No. How about Happy, and it's quints, Bruce. How about that."

Again, he blinked in confusion before taking off his glasses to wipe his eyes. "I'd say that was possible, but unlikely." Putting the glasses back on, he looked Tony in the eye and grew solemn himself. "You're serious. When did you find out?"

"What, that he's an omega, or can get pregnant or he's got quintuplets on the way. I'll cut to the chase for you. Always, always and less than twelve hours ago, and I want him here instead of an efficiency apartment back at the plant. How do you feel about it?"

"I barely know the man," Bruce answered. "But if he can put up with you, dealing with me ought to be a cakewalk."

"You say that like you know me."

"And you want me to look after him, too. Still not that kind of doctor, Tony. But - "

"Yeah?"

"He's got nowhere else to go, does he. I'm in. 'Course I am. Going to need help getting him moved here? Sounds serious."

"And that's why I love you, Dr. Banner. Thanks, Bruce."

"No problem. Mi casa IS your casa, anyway."

"It would hardly be in my best interest to spring any annoying surprises on you, Bruce. Plus, why."

"I appreciate your respect for my tender sensibilities. Have you talked to Rogers yet?"

"No, he was out. Know where he went?"

"He'll come back with a bag of cement in his hair, having ruined another perfectly awful plaid shirt and chinos clearing debris. Can't keep him away, I send him out to the farmer's market and he brings back everything on the list plus his weight in dirt. These days, though. I don't think he'll mind having something to take his mind off it."

"What do you mean - I'm kinda out of the loop here, y'understand. He doesn't tell me much."

Picking up his messenger bag and slinging it over one shoulder, Bruce led the two of them out of the lab. "Tony, Steve goes out every day to help with the recovery efforts. It doesn't matter what else I can dream up to keep him busy, he just ends up doing it anyway." Closing the door behind them, he set the lock and turned back to look Tony in the eye. "These days, they're only finding bodies. Steve goes in to spare the rescue workers, since he didn't know any of the victims himself. It keeps him busy, Tony. Can't blame him for trying."

"I'm moving me and Pepper here too, for the duration Bruce. I won't do it if he and I can't get along."

"And you want my help with that too, I suppose."

"He likes you. Better than me."

"I'll see what I can do. JARVIS waiting for him to get home too?"

"It sounded like he told him when he would be back, so yeah."

"Everybody still upstairs in the common lounge? Let's go then. Just what I wanted to do today, have a staring contest with Nick Fury. Thanks, Tony."

"Thanks, Bruce. Really glad you're here. This is going to be an adventure."

"That's just what I was afraid of."

###

A hot shower and change of clothes always helped. There was food in the kitchen, and Steve Rogers could almost taste the ham and cheese sandwiches he was planning to make when JARVIS spoke to him outside the doorway.

"Captain Rogers, you have company on the reception level in the common meeting room. Director Fury, Dr. Banner, Agents Romanov, Barton, Ms. Potts and Sir would like you to join them as soon as you can accommodate them."

"That sounds like more than a friendly social call," he answered, stepping into the kitchen after those sandwiches. "Urgent?"

"Sir has asked me to relay to you that the matter is not on fire...but needs your input to progress, nonetheless. Dr. Banner added that you should eat first. Agent Barton would like an apple."

He smiled. Barton knew what it was to grow up hungry, Banner knew he got hungry - they were good roomies. But Stark...what was he doing here, and with Fury in tow, it couldn't be good news. But not the worst, either. A bit nonplussed, Steve put his lunch together and wrapped the sandwiches in a napkin, pocketing three of the apples and snagged a box each of crackers and vanilla wafers to take with him. "Done and done, JARVIS. On my way."

"Sir sends his thanks, Captain. It is greatly appreciated."

"Now that's a first." _What does he want -_

Reaching the common area, Natasha saw him first and rose to her feet to help him carry the food into the conversation pit near the fireplace. "Productive morning?" she asked.

"Sure," Steve replied. "My old apartment is still under a few feet of rubble, but it's getting better. Afternoon, Ms. Potts, Tony. Director. Clint, Doc - " Reaching the coffee table, Steve sat down as he watched Pepper narrow her eyes at the spread, rising to go to the bar.

To pour him two large glasses of iced water, which she returned to him with, smiling. "Thank you. I kinda ran out of hands, there."

"She's good like that," Tony said quietly, which caught Steve's attention by itself. "Cap, go ahead and eat. Fury is the one who's got the concern - I am too, but not for the same reason."

Tossing an apple to Clint, who caught it without taking his eyes off Tony, Steve picked up the first of the sandwiches and bit deep, nodding and gesturing for him to go on.

"Remember how my Dad was an alpha? Back then, that was a thing...wasn't it?"

Fixing Tony with an interested look, he nodded as he watched the engineer tried to form up his next few sentences. Tony Stark at a loss for words - was odd. And Director Fury was simply seated in silence across the way, legs crossed with his fingers steepled in front of his face. Swallowing the bite, he took the moment to get a drink of water before responding. "It was, it was just something everybody knew. I always thought he'd gotten the reputation as a skirt-chaser unfairly, it wasn't as if he could help it. We never really ran across any omegas, which would have really complicated things. Heard about them. They're even rarer than the alphas. That still true?"

"These days, suppression regimens - medication - does the job. Most alphas these days, you'd pass on the street without knowing it." Steve watched as Tony appeared to brush imagined dust off a sleeve, looking away as he did so. "What do you know about omegas?" The question was asked casually, but the tightness of Tony's jaw belied the urgency behind it.

"Rare," he answered. "I don't think I've ever met one. Heard about them, as I said. They look male, but they heat up like alphas, can have children like females."

"Female omegas generally don't survive conception," Bruce said, "The genetics kind of go to war with themselves. Female alphas are also nearly sterile if they try to bear their own children, but they sire children on omegas as well as the male alphas do. You might not have met any because they weren't allowed in the military...or in public, really."

"Yeah, they kind of drove the alphas crazy...that's what they said, at least, so they lived by themselves with others like them. I knew an alpha or two, but never an omega." Chewing and swallowing the rest of his lunch, Steve watched the faces of his colleagues. "Go on."

"Omegas are closely monitored, and if they're on suppression regimens, they can move about society like anyone else, same as the alphas. That's what the law says," Tony responded. "Problem is, sometimes the medication doesn't work or the person taking it has a bad reaction to it. I'm not sure what the law allows in that case, but once people identify an omega, discrimination usually follows, regardless. It's not legal, but litigation takes time and by then the damage is done."

Steve nodded in agreement. "The chatter about them wasn't polite, back in your father's day. Barely considered human, assumption was they were neither bright or able to manage their own affairs. if an alpha - did something - it was usually blamed on an omega, regardless of whether there was actually one involved or not."

"That hasn't changed," Tony said, "Even children born to omegas get stigmatized - "

"Yeah, they had a higher risk of being a meta-gender," Steve added. "That, I remember. So, Tony. Who's the omega."

"You tell me," he answered, folding his arms. "There are two metas in the room right now, can you tell who - and which - they are?"

He felt his eyes narrow as Tony stared at him, waiting for answer. "No. I can't. Why can you? You're a beta too."

"Interesting. You're right. No, they told me. Because they discovered there's an omega over at Stark Industries. And the way they found out makes them itchy. They found this - " Tony tossed a small paper notebook on the table next to his empty plate. "I think it's personal notes, but I know the guy in question, so I obviously have a bias. Also, it was hidden in a way that says 'you don't see me,' but they did so here we are."

He wiped his hands before picking the book up to examine it. "You know what it says?"

"Nope."

"Got reason to think it's dangerous?"

"Nope, twice."

He took another look at the faces seated around the coffee table, then indicated two of them with an inclination of his head. "Fury. Romanov. If it was Ms. Potts' book, she'd be holding this. I live with the other two, and you want something from me Tony, you just haven't asked for it yet."

"Not bad," Fury murmured from where he sat. "You knew Stark's friend Colonel Rhodes is an alpha."

"Correct. Everybody knows," Steve answered.

"Yeah, he's basically the poster child for successful integration of a meta into society, thanks to the miracles of modern science." Watching Tony grow more irritated by the moment, Steve closed the little book and extended it back to him.

"He's a good man, Tony. Good friend, takes care of his own. It's never bothered me, and what SHIELD decides is acceptable within its ranks, who am I to judge? You going to go talk to the guy about it?"

"I am. Want to come along when I do?"

"If you think I should. I will, if you need me to. Why?"

"Because I want to move him in here for his own safety. Because I'm moving Pepper and I in here to look after him. I'm going to ask him what this is, and then I'm going to ask if he wants me to burn it."

Taking a deep breath, he got to his feet. "Excuse me folks, but I'm going to borrow Tony for a moment. C'mon, Stark. Need to show you something on the pad outside."

"As you wish," he replied, standing to follow him. "Don't worry. I'm not giving him flying lessons. Today." As Steve turned to sight the other man, he watched Tony gently brush a kiss across the top of Pepper's head as he went past. "Be right back," he heard him say in a low growl and then he went past him onto the walkway and then onto the small helipad.

Steve wasn't entirely comfortable with the way Tony hugged himself as he stood outside in the stiff breeze that always blew through the man-made canyon the Tower sat in, but as he joined him, Tony turned to face him and looked him in the eye with a glare that said he was waiting for whatever Steve intended to say to him. That made it easier. "It's Hogan, isn't it?"

The relief that flowed across Tony's face made him look almost childlike. "He's the only one left in your camp you'd go to the mat like this for," Steve added. "Only question I have is why isn't he here with you already, if it's safer here. You think you already know what's in that book."

"Because he _has_ done something, Steve. Something you might not like. And I'm not going to make Happy live someplace he won't feel safe because of what he is. What's been done."

Sighing, Steve shaded his eyes with one hand. "He's your friend. And this is your home, at the end of the day. Tony, whatever it is - I don't see Fury stomping around demanding his head. You already talked to Banner, he's onboard right? He hasn't broken the law, and this - journal - wasn't found under suspicious circumstances, outside of being encoded so only the owner can understand it."

"He's an omega, Steve. Who passes for a beta by being pregnant. He's a big guy, an extra twenty pounds or so doesn't really make much of a difference. He stops going into heat, a little work with neutralizers and he passes. Nobody knows, nobody cares."

He almost laughed out loud. Steve knew that was the last thing Tony had expected, the shocked look on his face was proof of that. "You know, I didn't peg Hogan for being that smart, but what a disguise. What omega _wants_ to be pregnant? You're serious. Okay, okay. How often does he do that? Once every few years or so?"

Tony's eyes closed, as if it hurt. "No. He's been pregnant with only a few weeks break between to allow for heats since puberty. That journal? Might be a list of who and where the children were placed for adoption. Since he arranges all of them, it makes sense he'd want to keep track."

Steve remembered how cramped the print had been. "Right," he said, squaring his shoulders. "Romanov knows him, why didn't she just talk to him herself?"

"Probably because he wouldn't see her. This is catching him at a really bad time, Steve. It's...complicated." Tony hugged himself harder, and looked away. "She also knows Pep and I, so she came to me instead. They want him in a secure location. I want - what I always want for him."

"Which is?"

"The freedom make decisions for himself. I'm going to go in there and ask questions, but if he tells me to go fly a kite - so be it. But before I offer him the Tower, I need to be sure you all are in favor of it. Because he'll know if you're not. He's - not well, Steve. Pregnancy isn't going well, and he's afraid to get seen and be outed."

"He's your friend, Tony. That makes him one of us." Laying a hand on Tony's shoulder, Steve gave it a little shake. "We got this. Now, let's go tell Fury to go mind the store, tell Banner to pack a bag while we freshen up a guest room and get on with this. Think Hogan will go for it?"

"Thanks, Steve," Tony said quietly, absently patting the hand still clasping his shoulder. "He'll go for it. Does anyone say no to you, ever?"

"You do. All the time."

"I do not."

"See?"

###

The milkshake had been Pepper's idea, the cheeseburger Tony's and the change of clothes Bruce's. Barton suggested a Lincoln MKX instead of the towncar, and volunteered to drive it. Asking JARVIS to alert Happy to their arrival, Tony also spoke to him on the phone before their arrival.

The lack of surprise on Happy's part did not reassure Tony at all. Before leaving for the plant, Natasha had pulled him aside. "I'm going to make a list of anyone with SHIELD clearance that has a specialty in meta-genders, hopefully we'll find someone who does prenatal work."

"A list," he'd said,"He can pick, if he wants." Wrapped up in his own head, trying to figure out how he was going to present this, Tony brought himself up short. "Thanks," he added. "You can leave the porch light on, but don't wait up for us."

"Maybe we should take a wheelchair, Tony," Steve had said. And since there was still daylight out, Tony asked JARVIS to fabricate one at the plant in the R & D shop.

And then they left.

If anything, the little apartment had become even more cave-like in their absence and it didn't look like Happy had budged from his bed all day. Steve waited out in the living room, taking in his surroundings while Clint did much the same.

Pepper first, then Tony...and as Steve heard Pepper gasp, Bruce swiftly followed them.

"Hey, look buddy - brought somebody to help out."

###

"You're that Dr. Banner guy. Aren't cha." Happy's eyes were the only thing that moved in his face as he watched Bruce approach him. "You took care of the Boss, thank you. Yeah, I know who you are. What a face you got on. That bad, huh?"

Bruce sat on the floor next to Happy's bed, folding his legs and resting hands on either knee. "Am I scaring you? I can leave, if I am - "

Pepper perched herself at the head of the bed on a pillow, Tony stood near the foot with one hand on the cipher journal in a jacket pocket. "Nah," Happy replied, "You're not scary. You won't hurt me. Boss talks about you all the time. Likes ya."

"Is it okay if I touch you?"

That got Bruce a puzzled look, then a crosscheck to both Pepper and Tony before he nodded. "Yeah. Didn't think you were that kind of doctor."

"I'm not, but right now I'm better than nothing - you look miserable, if you don't mind me saying that."

"Jus' taking my lumps, 's all. Literally." Wincing a little, he half-heartedly tried to change position. "G'head. What do you want to check first?"

"Blood pressure. Okay?"

"Yeah."

Pepper stayed where she sat in silence, carding a few strands of Happy's hair through nimble fingers. Moving into Happy's field of vision behind Bruce, he put hands in his pockets as he watched Bruce put a cuff on Happy's arm after hanging a stethoscope around his own neck. He took a reading, but didn't report it out loud or react in any way other than to take the cuff off and put it away, putting the head of the stethoscope between his hands to warm it. "Can you take a couple of good, deep breaths for me?"

Laying on his left side, Tony watched Happy struggle to comply as Bruce listened to his heart and lungs. Again, didn't report his findings as he put the stethoscope away, but he did pat Happy on the shoulder aimlessly as he moved down to Happy's feet to uncover them and checked for edema by gently applying pressure. Finding none, he covered them again and gently placed both hands on Happy's swollen belly. "Wow, that's a lot of movement. And a little tightening here and there. Does the food smell good to you?"

"So hungry I'm nauseous," he reported. "Maybe if I take it slow?"

"Milkshake first, then," Bruce agreed. "Tony needs a word with you. I'll step out in the other room for a moment."

"Tha's it? You were real gentle, Doc. Thanks."

Gathering up the tools brought with him, Bruce mentioned Tony closer as he reached the doorway. "This is so completely out of my comfort zone, you don't want me to even guess at the next steps. Feed him, get him comfortable and let's get him back home as soon as possible. If we can find anyone who knows more about omega physiology, we need them. Bad."

"Gotcha. Tap me in, Bruce."

Giving him a wry smile, Bruce wearily gave him a high five before leaving the room.

The look Happy gave him through red-rimmed eyes as he sat down on the bed gave him pause, though. "Got you in trouble, didn't I Boss?" Tony tried to wave it away, but the dread only worsened. "Don't lie to me."

"This isn't about me, don't change the subject. Broad shoulders, Hap. Isn't that always what you tell me? I swear, you look like someone punched you in the face - "

In spite of looking weary unto death, Happy grinned. "And you would know, you were there when it happened!"

"So I was," he murmured. Happy's skin had taken on the cast of clay, warm and dry to the touch. Taking one his huge hands between both of his, Tony stroked the palm with his thumb before turning it over to note how slack the skin hung across the back. _Dehydrated, that's not good._ Then he drew the cipher book out of his jacket and placed it in that hand. "I need your help with this, Hap."

Even in the dim light of the bedroom, Tony could see the pupil's of Happy's dark eyes dilate as he briefly raised his head and then dropped it as he buried his face in his arm, groaning as he closed his hand over the little book. "Knew I should have buried that capsule deeper." Sighing, he shifted until he could hold it in both hands, gently turning the pages. "Your buddies crack the code?"

"No. Pepper...Tallie, recognized your handwriting. Barton says it's orphanage code, but they stopped there. Caught your scent on me, they called. We talked." Touching him on the back of his neck, stroking a shoulder...feeling the strength under his hand, Tony also sensed a bone-deep weariness as well as he sagged even deeper into the bed. "You got a twofer, Hap. Fury AND Romanov."

"I ain't gonna out them. But, Boss. If you don't hand me over, what are they going to do to you?"

"You've done nothing wrong, so what makes you think they want you? Crying out loud. They can't have you, any rate. Potts needs you."

That made him smile as he leaned into Pepper's hand a bit more after meeting her eyes briefly. "And she looks after you, Boss. That's an old backup anyway. Burn it, flush the ashes and it never happened. 'Cept, now. They know I got secrets, Boss. From everybody, even you."

"Trust you with my life, Hap but you never trust me with yours." It was a soft voice that held more pain in it than Tony wanted, and resting a hand on his shoulder was more tactile than his old friend usually tolerated. "You once told me. Every baby had a home waiting for it, even before you went into heat. That book - is a list, isn't it?"

"What you don't know, you don't have to lie about later. My rules, Boss. You know that."

"Happy, the day I can't keep a secret - "

" _No,_ " he said with as much heat as he could manage. "No, tha's not it. You've never told a soul about me, not even when you shoulda. No, I don't want to turn you into a liar...on my behalf. 'S bad enough I turned myself into one, I don't need to drag you down too the same way. That's on me."

"Then don't lie," he said. "They're curious, and want to talk to you about it themselves. Pepper and I - I'm moving us over to the Tower, and I want you to go with us. Tell them what you like, tell them nothing at all, but. Hap...this isn't working here. Tower has better security, and we can call in some favors, all on our terms. Banner okay? You know Barton already, Romanov too and she's as fond of you as she is of anyone. I won't make you do anything, Happy. I want you to decide, but you're worth more than struggling on alone in a cracker box like this with no help."

"Not that long ago, youda just told me to pack up and do what you said," he grumbled. "Kinda miss those days."

"I'm not that guy anymore, he was a jerk. Rogers thinks you're smart. That help?"

"That so?" It wasn't fair, playing on Happy's hero worship, but watching him rally enough to blink in confusion lifted Tony's spirits. "They're all in on it? They all good with this moving in thing?"

"I wouldn't ask you unless they were. Rogers is just outside in the living room, you can ask him yourself."

"The fuck. He's really a beta, then." Lifting himself onto one elbow, Happy raised his head to look out into the living room. "HAY BROOKLYN. HOW ABOUT THOSE DODGERS NOW, ASSHOLE?"

"Those bums!" Steve's cheery rejoinder was capped with a Bronx cheer and Tony quickly got out of the way as Happy pushed him out of the way to sit on the edge of the bed.

"There are worse things," Tony heard Happy mutter as he covered his mouth with one hand, the other clutching his belly. "Than living with someone who likes baseball. Let's go Boss, before I change my mind."

###

If anyone was surprised Fury was the one waiting in the garage when the SUV arrived, nobody owned up to it. Happy managed to exit the vehicle, but after taking a few steps, stopped and bent over to pant while Steve got the wheelchair out of the back, taking the sides off, and locking the wheels in the process.

While Tony and Pepper hovered nearby, both Banner and he gently guided the heavily encumbered man onto what was left, guiding his feet onto the rests. "Okay, you're down," he said.

"I never," he heard Happy reply. "Been. This sick."

"Get you inside, Hap. Clean things up. Hang in there." Tony took up position at the front, reaching down to unlock the wheels then placing Happy's arms around him as he reached out Happy to pull the chair forward from where the back attached to the seat. "Steve, a little boost please?"

It was Fury who pushed the chair, however, moving swiftly and silent as the night. Still as green as grass, Happy sat up to look up as Fury looked down and slowly wiggled a few fingers at him. "H'lo, Mister Fury, sir."

"Mr. Hogan. Don't throw up on me."

"Yes, sir. Path of the righteous man is beset on a'sides, right?"

"You could say that. Back off Stark, I got this."

"Brother's keeper. Finder of lost children. Hey, Mr. Fury, sir?"

"Mr. Hogan."

"No striking down on the Boss, okay? He's got nothing to do with this."

"I am aware of that, Mr. Hogan. But in the name of charity and good will, I will reassure you of that fact."

"He'll get his, is what you're saying."

"All in due time, I'm sure."

"Um, thanks. But Mr. Fury? Do what I do. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Yeah."

"That's from Luke six, twenty-seven, isn't it."

"Yeah. Keeps me out of trouble. Mostly."

"A very wise plan, Mr. Hogan."

"Thank you for not - yanno - being mad and stuff." Stopping at the elevator, Fury pressed the up button then stepped away so he could look Happy in the eye before folding his hands behind himself.

"When you've given me cause for anger, Mr. Hogan - you'll know it. Romanov's got a list of doctors, people we've vetted in the past. Get some rest, go over it and choose someone to take over from Dr. Banner so he can get back to work on what he knows. How the hell did this happen, anyway?"

"Red-headed twins, sir." Gulping, Happy looked up as Fury blew air and glared at Tony who only lifted his chin and stared back in defiance. "Told me they shared everything...kinda dared me, a little. So - yeah. Got a little in over my head, I guess."

"Any more would be too much information, Hogan. Get to bed."

Letting Tony, Pepper, Steve and Bruce escort Happy in the elevator, Nick took Clint aside as the doors closed. "Your take on this, Agent?"

"Looks like a burlap sack full of bobcats, sir."

"Let me know if something comes up, besides his breakfast. Check in with Romanov. Depending on who he chooses off the last, I'll have some explaining to do. And Agent?"

"Sir?"

"Next time you find a book like that near Stark? Shred it, burn it, bake it or fry it but don't tell me about it."

"Sir, yes sir."

###

"That one." Happy's voice was soft, the finger he used to point at the name on the list glowing on the touchscreen in front of him three times the size of the print. "Is there a picture?" he added, his voice taking on a quality of wonder.

Cleaned up, dressed in loose fitting clothing Pepper had designed and JARVIS had fabricated, Happy was resting comfortably on a recliner that neatly held his weight, feet propped up while he absently sipped at a smoothie Tony had brought him, an IV taped securely to the back of his hand.

Watching him interact with both Natasha and Clint, Tony sighed in relief, but with renewed concern as Happy remained uncharacteristically passive, even shy around the other members of the team.

"That one?" Natasha said quietly, leaning over to confirm the selection. Happy, in response, leaned further back into the cushions, eyes rolling silently in alarm. "Dr. Odelia Perri. She's semi-retired. You know her?"

"Hey, Nat. Back off, ya big dumb alpha," Clint called from across the room. "You're practically laying on his belly and I don't know anything pregnant that likes that."

Stung, Natasha checked her position with narrowed eyes in Clint's direction but re-seated herself. "My apologies," she said, looking toward Happy with a careful, measured gaze.

"I know better than to push you outta the way," Happy said. "You didn't mean anything by it. Just - that close, I can smell you. Smell like ashes. Kinda like what they all smell like from outside - "

"But you're expecting an alpha, now that you know - and as I told you, it doesn't work that way with me - " Tapping on the link, Natasha pulled the screen closer to her as she looked up at Tony pulled close enough to see. Having set up Happy on one of the upper floors not affected by the remodel to enclose and expand the floors above the reception level, one of the four walls still contained floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the Hudson, sparkling in the late afternoon summer sunshine, even under the glare reduction coating the outside of the glass.

"She's also neither dumb or big, birdbrain," Tony added, rubbing his eyes and yawning. "Fooled us once, lied to us twice. But not the others. Perri, doesn't ring a bell."

"There's a picture," Popping it up, Natasha swung the screen back to Happy, who took in the image with widened eyes and a calm nod.

"That one. Call her. Please?"

With a kind "of course," Natasha removed the screen, pushing it to the side so his view of Tony, and the picture windows beyond was unimpeded before standing to leave the room, motioning Clint to follow her. "I'll see if she'll make house calls. Try to get some rest."

Watching Happy track the SHIELD agents with his eyes as they left, Tony tried to stifle another yawn as Happy refocused his attention back on him. "Do you know who this Dr. Perri is, Hap? Not that there are a ton of OB-GYNs with specialty in omega physiology, but that's Fury for you."

"She'll know me," he answered. "Boss, she was just finishing up her residency but she was there helping me have the second one - started this whole thing. She was one of the people who looked after us kids at the home where I lived when I got pregnant the first time."

"Have you see her since then?" A mute shake of he head, but Happy's eyes drifted off into midspace as he pressed a hand to his side again. "Happy, finish that. Still nauseous?"

"Mm? Oh. No. Much better, thanks Boss. Just - distracted."

"You look a billion miles away, my friend."

"A billion years away, more like," he answered. "Was talking to Clint a while ago. Both he and that Dr. Banner spent time in group homes too, did you catch that? Small world. 'Cept, I went there from the hospital after bein' born. Long time ago, but it's funny what you think about. Like now - this is an empty room, did you know that?"

"Hap, it has the two of us in it and probably Bruce soon."

"Nah, empty. A room with people in it has at least five or six. I can't remember a time growing up being alone, ever. We were always tossed together, mostly girls and us omegas. Once in a while, we'd get a boy they thought might turn alpha - and they were right, they did and poof, gone they went when they did - but mostly girls they thought might turn alpha, and of course they knew us boys were omegas, we all had the same messed up junk. Didn't know they had foster homes for beta kids - I always thought that just happened to us." Draining the carafe, Happy pro-offered it to a Tony who smiled as he got up to take it. Shifting the lounge to sit more upright, Happy covered his mouth as a belch found its way out. "Help me up? I want to see what's in the kitchen."

"Sure."

Balance remained elusive, but standing and walking by keeping within fingertip range of the furniture with one hand, the other pushing the IV pole, Happy managed to cross the room to where the counter island and efficiency kitchen lined the wall. Tony stayed within reach, but clasped his hands behind his back; it was the only way he managed to keep his hands off Happy as he shadowed him. "Gah, it's too narrow through here." Trying to turn sideways between the counter and the refrigerator, Happy found the only way to open the door was to pull it open with his back to it. A carton of orange juice, and another of buttermilk were placed on the counter, then a large drinking cup followed from the counter. "This was easier a month ago," he grumbled, pouring a portion of each into the cup, stirring it together with a straw before reversing the actions to put them all away. "Just a minute," he said, and downed the contents in one pull as Tony tried to keep the horror from showing on his face. "Ugh, now I'm full - and gotta go. Always something."

"Hey, pregnant. Like the rest of the world, what a concept."

"Very funny, Boss."

He was better, just with some food and care and as Tony got him settled back into the lounger, Bruce arrived, pushing a cart. "I thought maybe the new doctor might find these helpful. Requisitioned a few things from the medical supply catalog."

"You could have just gone down to R & D, we make a whole line of stuff for hospitals, Bruce. But, I don't know. Don't want to turn this place into a ward, I already nixed the hospital bed idea." Poking through the tech loaded on the cart, Tony bantered with the other scientist until Bruce looked over his shoulder, tapping Tony on his.

"Look, he's asleep. He hasn't done that all day."

Wry, Tony smiled as he stepped back to toss a blanket over Happy. "He likes you, Bruce. Only time he sleeps when I'm in the room is when Pepper is there, because he trusts me with her. To Happy, me in the room means he's on the job. I can't seem to shake him of it."

Hearing the elevator doors open again, they both turned to see Clint exit by himself and they both raised fingers to their lips. Raising eyebrows, Clint peered over and gave a thumbs up as he reached the two of them. "It looks good, Tony. Nat's just working out the details. Doctor he picked? Remembers him, yeah. Said he was a teenager when she saw him last, grateful as hell to find out what happened to him.

"Tony, her sister adopted the baby - her niece was his kid. Doctor is almost completely retired, she's going to need an assistant - so details, details."

"Not a very big world, omegas. Is it, Bruce?" Blowing air, Tony crooked a finger at Clint. "Bruce, go ahead and stay bedside. Clint, you're with me. Kitchen."

The suit jacket had been shed some time ago, the tie as well but now Tony rolled up the sleeves of a bespoke dress shirt Clint was certain had cost more to make than he spent on his clothes in ten years. Going to the cabinets, Tony pulled down half a dozen casserole pans and arranged them on the counter. Turning to another one, he pulled out a stockpot large enough to feed an army and put it on the stove. From the refrigerator, he swiftly took out five blocks of various cheeses, and fetched a bowl for each, and a small food processor and placed them in front of Clint. "Shred those in each bowl, thanks."

"Okay," he said and watched Tony go back to the refrigerator for a pound of butter he sat next to the stove. "Huh."

It became clear when he went to the pantry and got the pasta. Big, thick, bent tubes of elbow macaroni. Taking the sprayer with its hose from the sink, Tony turned on the hot water all the way and put the spigot over the pot, putting on oven mitts as he went. "J, I need to override the safety on this thing - send the water straight out of the radiators, I need it boiling."

"Very good, Sir." It only took a few moments, with the heat on, to fill the pot and placing a lid on it, Tony turned back to the casserole pans.

"Macaroni and cheese? Why so much?"

"Vegetarian, so Banner will eat it. Institutional recipe, quantities so it'll feed Rogers as well as us. Happy taught me how to make it once." Going to the pantry again, he pulled out several bags of potato chips. The water now boiling, he started the pasta to cook.

The food processor made short work of grating the blocks of cheese, with no small amount of noise, the smaller machine made a lot of racket, to Clint's ear. "He said he grew up in foster care. Why would you make something that would remind him of that?"

"Because it's his favorite," Tony said, breaking down the butter between the pans. "Put a little of each type on the bottom of each. Thanks." Going to the spice cabinet, he brought out a jar of red pepper flakes, some chili powder and a bottle of tabasco sauce. "Going to make a hot one to keep it interesting."

"Nice." Watching Tony drain the pasta, then dividing it across the pans, Clint sprinkled more of the cheeses between the layers until there was none left. It was a side of Tony Stark he couldn't remember seeing before; calm, focused but nearly silent and deeply concerned. Clint might have looked over at Happy sleeping peacefully with Bruce sitting bedside, now looking at a tablet and making notes once or twice.

Tony looked up at least three times a minute. The "hot" pan, he pushed away from the others, treating it with the spices before going to the refrigerator for a carton of whole milk that he poured into each pan, tossed them lightly with a fork.

"Here, Clint. Catch." Tossing him half the bags of potato chips, Tony took one between his own hands. "Smash."

The crumbs, layered on top of the pasta and cheese made a delightful topping that browned up in the oven. Watching Happy, Clint swore he saw his nose twitching in his sleep as the fragrance swept through the common area.

###

It was easily the least healthy dish he'd eaten since Natasha had brought him back to the States, but Bruce couldn't put it down. Pepper had arrived as the sun went down, pulling Tony aside to watch the sunset with her after pairing her portion with a green salad. When she had sat down to eat it in the club chairs set near the lounger Happy was resting in, the look of longing in his eyes had made him chuckle before he went to the kitchen to toss two more together.

But they now sat on a low bench with their backs to the rest of the room, heads together as they spoke softly to each other. Happy watched them, but said little more than please, thank you and more to Bruce. Clint, talking on the phone with Natasha, was the one who picked up the empty dishes as he cradled the phone on one shoulder as he did so. When Steve arrived after dark, it was with a towel around his shoulders, fresh from another shower. "Hey, that smells good. You cooking again, Doc?"

"Nah, that's the Boss," Happy answered. "He's a quick study when it comes to food. You eat yet?"

"Actually, no. Is there some left - "

Pushing the blanket aside, Happy swung feet over the side and pushed himself up, making Bruce hastily get to his own feet to assist. "Making more's a snap," he said, "What. I could eat, too - "

He stopped mid-word when he felt Bruce's hand under one elbow, and turned to find Steve right at his shoulder. "Oh," he said, face falling. "Sorry, I guess you don't want me getting up...or something."

"Yesterday, you couldn't get up, Hap." Tony hadn't gotten to his feet, but spoke quietly from where he sat with Pepper. "They don't know you very well yet. And Cap's always hungry. It's a thing with him." Looking between Happy and Steve while Clint hastily ended his call, Bruce dropped his hand and stepped back.

Happy looked confused, then as Bruce watched, dropped his eyes. "I'm fine," he said, and tried to square his shoulders, swaying as his center of gravity kept shifting. "Really. I'm good."

"There's also three pans left, Happy," Pepper added. "Plus the spicy one, if you want some."

"Thanks, Ms. Potts. It's like the Boss knows me or something."

Tony only smiled, dark eyes bright as Happy looked at him but the moment Happy turned away, his attention shifted to Steve, Clint and himself, and his expression changed, darkening. "I've known the Hapster for a long time, guys. If he feels up to doing something, it's best to just let him do it."

"Got it," Clint said, as Steve's expression cleared and he stepped back as well. But it seemed reasonable to follow Happy to the kitchen and pull out a stool at the counter for himself when he did.

"Nat's coming by in a hour or so with Dr. Perri," Clint announced, picking out some of the topping from the emptiest of the remaining pans. "She remembers you, yeah."

Happy's expression softened as he found a perch on the stool next to Bruce. "Didn't even know she was still around, thought the name looked familiar. It's really her, huh? What did she say about me?"

"All good stuff, really." Getting his hand slapped by Steve when he tried to get a bite out of the pan with his fingers, Clint frowned and got a plate. "Sounded like a lot of the people who worked at the home I lived in, back in the day. Stuff like well-behaved, and spirited. Smart. Cute, even."

"I was never cute," Happy said, taking a plate from Steve and digging in. "Hey, this goes well with apples too, grab one." Watching Steve raise his eyebrows at the suggestion, he turned and got a pair from the crisper in the refrigerator and gave one to him. "I know, I know - takes getting used to, doesn't it? We got fresh fruit all the time. Thank Ms. Potts, her idea. And the Boss, who gets bored easy." Leaning over his plate became uncomfortable enough for Happy to pick up the plate - and then he noticed he had to hold it over the shelf his belly made. He sighed, made the appropriate adjustments and continued. "She was the one who came by the place I lived the longest, checking up on all us kids. We all loved her, called her Doctor Delia. Hard to believe she's old enough to be retirin' -"

"Semi-retired, she's doing research these days. That's how SHIELD knows her," Clint added. "Also, assistant since she can't be here all the time. Nat says she's being picky about it, and SHIELD is being picky, so she's not bringing them with her tonight. Should be here soon."

"Do I look okay? I'm not wearing any of this, am I?"

"No, you're good. First place, you said. Did you age out of it or something?"

"Nah, I got pregnant. First heat. First heat for the alpha too." Bruce watched Happy's eyes brighten as he put the empty plate down. "It's true, what they say. You always remember your first. I ever tell you about it, Boss?"

Tony rolled his eyes, but turned around to face him. "No, Hap - you didn't. Never came up."

"Oh God, my first? My first was my bunkmate back at that group home in Jersey, I was 14 and she was almost 15 and neither of knew our butts from first base when one day, she wakes up in the middle of night, and goes off down the hall, holding herself, starts crying in the bathroom...real low, like."

Happy got up and went back to the lounger, putting his feet up as his gaze traveled to the ceiling, hands folding across his belly. "She'd heated up in her sleep, scenting me right next to her and knotted up. She's in there, so het up she can't even touch herself to pee. We all knew about knots and fucking omegas, it was dirty talk all us kids used to listen at the keyholes to get the juicy details. But now it was her, and she could scent me and she was in the bathroom cryin'. Well, I could smell her too. And boy, lemme tellya. It smelled better than turkey dinner at Thanksgiving. I wasn't gonna let her cry, y'know?

"I got outta bed, went to the bathroom, opened the door and took her by the hand. 'Susie,' I said - come with me. We'll go out to the playhouse, just you and me. So what if you're an alpha. I'm an omega, and I got something for that.' And because it was me, and not that jackhole Tommy down the hall, she did.

"Do you know how to do it? she asks me. No, I say - cos' I'm an honest kid like that - but I'm sure we'll figure it out, okay? I won't hurt ya.

His gaze drifted into midspace as his mind went back over thirty years. "Dick, twat, insert until past the knot. Dick, twat, past the knot. I really was fond of that girl, too. We'd been there together since we was real little, so when I told her something - she knew it was true, I never lied. When she asked me for something, I'd given it to her. She asked me to hold her, and I did...she asked me to kiss her and I did. It was real nice. I let her scent me, all up and down, and then I showed her my hole, and she put her dick in it, kinda gingerly like at first, and kept asking me if it was okay...and I did.

"She never once did anything to me without asking, not once. She already had a huge knot, poor thing - thinking back. It was good, just pumping away up to it - but I could tell she was getting frustrated and I kind of got tired of it too and thought I was ready to take it, so I asked her to try doing it...she shoved that thing into me, and so help me, I saw stars! God, it was intense - hyuge! I'd never come before, but I did then like a freight train out of control and I slammed around that knot and milked it dry! She just came, buckets and floods, over and over - harder and harder...screaming. Which is how we woke the whole house and they found us there in the playhouse, tied together like a couple of cheap whores. Well, that's what they said, anyway.

"I swear, you tell someone knotted together like that to stop, it's hilarious. Like, sure. Right away, lady. Just let me pop this cork and slip right on outta here! No way! Susie is looking at me, totally mortified...and then I wiggle a little, and that knot of her swells up again, locking us together and sending her around the bend again - and me too, I'm not gonna lie. They get madder and madder, and every time they think they can tell us to quit, I just stroke that knot and it grows as big as a softball again. Fuck those guys, seriously. I started watching their faces, and then started making faces at Susie and we both start laughing. And squeezing each other, and laughing some more. Wiggling and giggling, that's us. We stayed like that for hours - locked together in the playhouse just making each other come, playing little kid games with each other because it was fun. Who the hell gets knocked up their first time, anyway?

Blowing air, Happy's eyes closed tight. "Well, me. Spectacularly," he said. "And that's when everything changed." Stroking his belly aimlessly, Happy turned to look back towards the three of them still at the counter. "Lost my home, all my friends and everything I'd ever known. You know what I am, you might as well know that. We finally fell asleep, still together and when we woke up, it was like a switch had been tossed. She still smelled good, but not as strong and I wasn't holding onto her as good no more. Since everybody was standing around waiting for us to get out of there, we put ourselves back together and did what we was told. But I held her hand while they yelled at her, because she'd been brought up better. Knew better. Which, nah. I knew what she'd done, she'd tried! But nobody was around when she needed them, but me!"

Closing his eyes, Happy blew air as he looked into the rafters again. "They were nice, there. They called Dr. Delia, and she came over right away. While they packed my things. Packed her things. Cos' she couldn't stay with the kids anymore, she was going away where she'd be with other alphas that didn't have folks of their own. Susie was gone before Dr. Delia even got there, and I never saw her again."

"You just had sex, Hap." Tony sounded resigned, not angry. "You guys don't get this - well Barton, maybe you do - but. That's crazy."

"That's a foster home when you have no choice except be what you are - and get thunked for it. Plus, they kinda expected it, that's why we were all there. We were supposed to tell someone if we were heating up, and with us? Nobody to tell."

"They moved you," Steve said quietly, the tone flat and angry. "Where."

"They called 'em Saint Anne houses. Where you put omegas either pregnant or couldn't take suppressants. Nice enough, but nobody stayed long enough to get chummy, if you know what I mean. They were all older than me, a few years or so. And you could kinda figure out how much longer they would be there by the size of their bellies - they all got mad at me. Because I never grew one. I was never cute. I was always big, like I am. That was good though, because the phys ed teacher? Had been a boxer before he got hit too many times and had to quit. Took a shine to me after I start copying him when he worked out.

Turning to pay attention, Bruce watched Steve refill his plate and move to the club chair nearest Happy as Tony took up a position on the other side. "Dr. Delia handed me off while I was there, but we kept in touch. And the people there were nice enough, they just didn't get attached. The nicest one was my worker, they call 'em case managers now...nice beta lady named Adina. She was datin' the coach, and they were really cute together. Took me to the fights! That was amazing, and then when he worked with me? I was good - just, knocked up. But I never showed - just big, and fat. And ugly. Not dainty enough to be a good fuck, they all said. When they thought I couldn't hear them."

"Well, fuck them too," Tony added pleasantly. "Nothing but betas themselves for ten generations, right?"

"Hey, you know the type," Happy answered, glowing under the attention. "And I passed. We'd go out, and people would think I was their kid - and I passed! That was the first time I really thought about the future, right? Because, they weren't going to let me keep the baby - nuh-uh, already planned out, papers signed - all that. I was fourteen years old, come on. Had nobody. Looked older, though," he said and winked. "and I didn't really think about it much before. And stupid me, I didn't really pay much attention in health class. But I learned, boy - did I - in a hurry when the time came."

###

"You don't look knocked up, then again - you're so fat, who could tell?" Laughing, the other kid turned and left, leaving Happy holding his stomach. He didn't answer, he didn't want to. Watching him waddle away, belly swinging out in front of him like a flagpole, he had a moment of pity for the other guy.

"'Tch, you'd have to be four times your size to cover up that mistake, buddy," he muttered under his breath. But stepping back, dropping his hands to his sides, Happy took a hard look at himself.

Squarely fifteen, taller than when he'd gotten there, shoulders broader, beard definitely coarser, jaw stronger...body thick and square, with no definable waist or hips. As always. He'd always had definable pectoral creases, pregnancy had deepened them but not all that much. Turning sideways, he didn't appear any different...really, maybe a bit plumper. Feeling the baby turn over, resting a hand on his belly where he felt it, he noticed nothing happened on the outside. He hadn't even acquired the pregnant waddle all the other kids had.

Nothing...at all. Putting both hands on either side, he gave it a quick shake and release like they had at the sonogram. The baby responded as it had then as well, kicking and twisting in response.

Nothing. He pulled the too-small t-shirt tighter, tucking it into his pants. The baby turned and somersaulted inside him, but nothing happened on the outside. It was just too small in comparison to the rest of him.

Realizing he really could have been on the outside passing as a beta all along with no one the wiser but him, Happy huffed a huge sigh and turned to leave.

That was when his water broke. And again, everything changed.

He'd gotten the rundown on what to expect. Stages, diagrams, pictures. But having never gone through it before, labor...was horrible, and the first contractions when they arrived threw him to the floor in agony, surprised that such a thing was allowed. It just didn't make any _sense_ \- this was supposed to be Good. Why was he being punished for doing what nature had intended for him to do?

His belly squeezed so tight he couldn't breathe, and it hurt so much it make him puke. And then the contractions got closer together, and harder, pinning him to the gurney they strapped him to with both legs spread apart, his feet in stirrups.

He screamed, and a nurse told him to shut up. Crying, he was told to stop or he would need an IV. Then they started one anyway. He soiled himself on the table, the contractions forcing everything out of him and still they came, harder and more painful still. A nurse, cleaning him up after one of the strongest noticed something and called another over, with a third hurrying over as well, pulling gloves on as she went. A new contraction crested, and brought a new sensation...something heavy he could sense and grasp...and push.

"Go ahead, you're ready to go, kid. Push with everything you got!"

So, he did. And was rewarded with a burning, stabbing pain that dwarfed everything that had come before - and he couldn't stop. He had thought taking a knot was a stretch - this was a billion times worse. Hearing himself whimper, Happy pushed with everything left in him, trying to move that thing past his twat and suddenly, it was over as quickly as it had started...with the sound of an angry baby's cries, louder than anything else, filling the air.

So quick. The nurse held him (boy, he could tell and beta too) up to drain all the fluids out of his mouth and lungs, then down out of his line of sight while another one clamped the umbilical cord in two places, and cut it apart between them. She got up, the baby between her hands in a cotton blanket, turned and handed him off to a nurse who closed it up around him, and walked out of the room, without one word to him at all.

That was the last time Happy saw his firstborn.

"Come on, let's deliver the afterbirth and get you out of here. Party's over. What are you crying about, you didn't even tear anything - "

He could feel the contraction coming, felt it cresting as the nurse placed both hands, splayed over his belly and pushed down as hard as she could, as Happy found he had breath to scream again as it happened. It felt like his whole entire insides were pouring out of his twat, blood and placenta, amniotic fluid and the remaining membranes, hitting the floor with loud splats as they came. "Big, healthy boy," she said, "Going to a good home, no thanks to the likes of you. Learned your lesson yet? Huh?"

_I learned you don't care about me at all. I'm just a nuisance. And a burden._

_A boy. I had a normal, healthy boy!_

"I didn't mean to," he sobbed. And when she kept taunting him, demanding he answer her, Happy had only one answer. "I didn't mean to. I didn't."

"You omegas are all alike. It's all your way until you have to pay the piper, and now look at you. I swear, that alpha must have been blind or fucked you in the dark, you're so fat and ugly. Who the hell would want you, anyway?"

""M'n not _ugly_!"

She cleaned him up, the harshest sponge bath he would ever endure, all the while cursing him under her breath as he tried not the hear. When Adina, the case manager came in later to check him out of the LD&P unit, it was with quiet, soft words and a package of tissues. "Come on honey, time to go now."

"I want to go home."

"I'm so sorry, Harry," she said, hugging him lightly before picking up a bag of his things and pushing him in a wheelchair to where the car was waiting at the door. "We're going over to where you'll be living from now on. Now that the baby's here, you can't stay at Saint Anne's. I found a placement for you over at Havenwood, it's designed for omegas your age. I've placed a few kids over there, it's nice - "

Anything had to be nicer than this place. Sore and empty, she let her check him in with a new set of staff, in a new place across town from the old one, with a whole new set of smells - neutralizers, his mind supplied - in the middle of the afternoon. Taken to a room with two beds in it, a door that led out and another that led to a shared bathroom, the case manager was joined by a dormitory manager who had a small box of her own that she placed at the foot of the bed.

"Hi, Harold M. Hogan - did I get it right? I'm Judy Wells, your DA." She spoke calmly, but firmly with a tone that made him look up and meet her eyes. They were deep brown, liquid and kind. "This is your welcome package, we give every new resident one of these when they arrive. Don't worry about unpacking anything tonight, you've been through a lot and it can wait." Turning to his case manager, Happy watched her forget he was in the room as she went over the details of his case with her.

"Just yesterday? That's unreal, but I guess budget cuts make decisions for us," the DA continued. "We'll get him on suppressants in no time, and get him ready to graduate in a few years. It'll be fine, Adina. Don't worry."

###

"Don't worry, she said." Looking around the room, Happy dried his eyes, hating that he'd shed tears over something so long ago...and it had made Pepper cry, and that was horrible. "Nah, worrying ain't for the likes of me. That welcome package had the first round of drugs in it, and like a good little boy, I did exactly what they said to do on the box." Aiming for the trash can, Happy nailed it with the balled up tissue. "Pill morning and evening, and a shot in the butt. They'd already given me a shot to stop my milk, and finish up cleaning everything out at the hospital - that wasn't anything, but they'd already checked my blood and said it was time to get going. Hurry up, Harry. Hurry up! Quit being an omega, we're all sick of it."

"Yeah, there's never really enough to go around in those places." Bruce had gotten out of his chair, and was heading for the door. "I need a moment, back in a bit."

"Yeah, Doc. You go get angry enough for the two of us."

"Mr. Hogan," he replied, his voice soft but deadly serious underneath. "You know that's not an option. For either of us."

"Don't I just," he'd answered, "Don't I just. Get some air, you deserve it. Sorry 'bout my big mouth."

But the dark-haired scientist only shook his head, as sad as he'd ever seen him. "You're lucky. You can talk about it."

###

It hadn't come on all at once. The second day, he'd felt a little queasy and needed to use the bathroom more than usual. The little insert in the pack said some of the side effects included lower GI upset and cramping, but that it was temporary as the patient adjusted to the medication. Ride it out, they'd said.

But by the fourth day, he couldn't leave the bathroom and was vomiting into the trashcan while passing more diarrhea than he knew he could have in him, his gut twisting into knots so painful he couldn't catch enough air to scream, and it felt worse than labor had and in the same places.

_I'll just stop taking the pills. I'm just throwing them up anyway._

When he saw frank blood after that, he stopped taking the shots as well. Tell someone? He'd heard the DA talking on the phone about "noncompliant omegas" who got sent back to Saint Anne's, and nope, that wasn't going to happen.

Dr. Delia didn't visit. You had to report for clinic, and Happy hadn't. Wouldn't.

Passing off the bad reaction as a case of food poisoning (hey, fat kid eating too much again, got into the leftovers, my bad!), Happy went to the one source of information he trusted - the library, ostensibly to catch up on his schoolwork.

He had two weeks before going into heat again. And an omega in heat would trigger every alpha in a twenty mile radius, further if they left their scent on something that traveled, like a car or an airplane. If Happy wanted a choice in who serviced his heat, he needed to find one himself, and soon. Going through one alone, even if he could find a place far enough away from other people to manage it, carried a list of consequences that made him cold inside just to read it. The suppressants would be a vision of paradise in comparison.

He found out where the alphas who couldn't tolerate the suppressants went. And began using neutralizing products religiously. It had only taken one knotting to end the heat. Not knowing the heat had ended with conception, Happy planned his visit with some care but clear intention. Not too far into the future. And not to the residence itself, but to the community it was in. The garage. The gym. A coffeeshop, then the bookstore.

It was in the grocery store where the neutralizers were stocked that he found him. Pretty plain, looked at with normal eyes, close to his own age and looked just as nervous about being where he was as Happy felt. Then his head came up, nostrils widening as the first waft of his musk reached Happy and he knew he'd been identified, and he closed the distance between them with only a few steps. "I can't do the drugs either," he'd coughed out under his breath. "I'll help you out, if you'll help me."

Happy would remember his golden eyes, spiked through with green blades like grass growing. And how they had narrowed, pupils dilating as he'd nodded. "Get married if you catch?"

"Nah, I won't get pregnant."

"What if you do. Tell me."

"I gotta case manager who placed the last one. She won't rat on me. I got an open adoption, I'll do it again."

He'd wrinkled a freckled nose at that, cocking his head. "You're serious. I'd know if you lied."

"Got no reason to lie. Thanks for offerin' but I want something besides this. I got plans."

"Until they figure out how to fix me, I got no other life."

"This stuff helps. That stuff works the best, where shall I meet you - a week. What's your name?"

"Wally - Wallace. Kyle. See the golf course 'cross the way? It's got a clubhouse, I'll be around the back with a key inside. Dad works there."

"Wally Kyle. See you - " Happy gave him an email address, just in case.

He bought more neutralizers. And the first of the notebooks, where he wrote down Wally's name. Thinking twice, he wrote down Susie's as well.

Getting away to meet Wally was easier than meeting him had been, and ripened for a week only made his musk smell all the sweeter, like being invited inside from a cold, icy rain. Being a few years older, he had been more experienced as well and taught Happy what felt better as well as suggested things for him to try. It was only a few steps away from playing at making love in the playhouse, but being held, caressed and complimented was heady stuff all on its own. "You're strong, aren't you?" The alpha, purring in contentment as he traced light fingers over the contours of his chest, hips and tummy before gently suckling at a nipple, bending over Happy, knotted firmly within him. "Thank you," he'd breathed. "You understand without even knowing - "

 _I love you_ , Happy had heard in his head. "You're like me," he'd said. "Made to fit together. Can't be anything wrong with it. Ready to go again?"

"Aren't you full up yet?"

Reaching up to place careful fingers at the base of his dick, behind the knot and between where his balls hung, Happy gentle pressed up to see Wally's eyes roll up into his head as he gasped. "This is getting full again," he growled, "I think."

"Sweet Jesus," Wally moaned, the knot swelling again as Happy stroked him into orgasm again. "Oh jeez...."

"Jesus was a beta," Happy crooned in his ear as he spent himself again and again. "He's got nothing to do with the two of us, and he'll never know. Poor guy."

"Yeah," Wally had breathed. "Poor guy."

The heat ended the next morning, and in the light of day Wally hadn't looked as good, or sounded as nice as he had in the grocery store. "Thanks," he'd said, getting dressed, "I've got a clear head for the first time in six months. There's a shower in the locker room, go ahead and use it. Just lock the doors when you leave. I'd better go, or I'll be missed. Good luck, hope things work out for you. Man! This is great!"

Happy knew before he missed his next heat - that warm glow had never stopped, and being pregnant only made it stronger. Going back to his notes, he took a bus to Adina's fella's gym, suited up and asked to spar with him.

After that, he asked to speak to Adina, and he told her. And she told him about Dr. Delia's sister, who couldn't have children of her own.

Happy went back to Havenwood, and Adina called Dr. Delia. But Happy never stopped hearing _I love you_ when he thought of Wally, and when he started feeling his baby move in his belly, he remembered the way he had made him feel beautiful and strong.

It was enough.

###

Dr. Odelia Perri was a small woman who dressed casually in pants with a sweater set and had readily accepted Bruce's escort up to Happy's floor when she and Natasha had arrived. For that, Steve was eternally grateful. Barton had gone to the bar and poured himself a drink, offering one to himself, but it was Pepper who took him up on it as Tony continued to stay by Happy's side, fussing as the larger man fell asleep still trying to talk to him.

The trio found the common room hushed and quiet, the lights turned down low. "Hi, I'm Steve Rogers," he whispered as he greeted her at the elevator. "He's asleep, but come on in."

She probably colored her hair, he'd decided. She had merry eyes that twinkled from the nest of crows-feet that encircled them, and there was mascara on her eyelashes, a pretty shade of coral lipstick on her lips. The hair was short, but curled and framed her face without being distracting. Maybe he had expected a lab coat, but the simple gold chain at her throat as well as the no nonsense way she shook his hand was reassuring. "Good, good," she replied, "My apologies, but we just couldn't agree on my assistant, so I decided to come over and just have a look first."

Tony had ambled up behind him, and had extended a hand as well. "Glad you could make it. I don't meet many people who knew Happy before I did anymore."

"You haven't met anyone who knew your Happy before you did, Mr. Stark. You're looking well - yes, I can watch television, I've been watching the both of you for years!"

"So you knew. Why didn't you come forward?" Watching Tony give the doctor his undivided attention, Steve found himself grateful for the famous Stark charm as she took the proffered arm and walked away with him.

"Why indeed, Mr. Stark. That's entirely by his choice - "

Turning to see both Natasha and Bruce standing behind her, Steve watched as they both looked after Dr. Perri with pleased expressions. "Don't tell me, let me guess. She deputized you two as her assistants."

"No, actually, she didn't," Natasha said, smiling like a cat in the cream. "She's pleased we have Banner, very pleased. But then she took a look at your experience, and mine. Then she cracked open Clint's file and I knew it was over. Stark, she didn't bother with and now I know why. Look at her with Potts, you'd they'd gone to school together."

Watching as the two women laughed and shook hands, smiling, Bruce shook his head. "That's clinched it. She's moving into the suite on 56 for the duration. Pepper just made her an offer she couldn't refuse. Lab space!"

"And now she wants us - shall we?"

She couldn't have been much older than Happy, not old enough to be a parent...young aunt, perhaps or a cousin. She approached the sleeping man with some caution, but not enough to keep from waking someone sleeping lightly. The smile never left her face, even after she started her exam by reading Bruce's notes and just gently touching his hands, turning them over and taking a pulse. "He hasn't changed all that much," she said. "Wake up, honey. I just need to say hello, and then you can go back to sleep."

Happy blinked as she pushed a few strands of hair off his forehead, but as he recognized her, he took a sharp indrawn breath between his teeth as he took her hands in her own. "I'm dreamin' - you. I don't - m' sorry. Wow."

She only bent at the waist to brush a gentle kiss on his forehead. "I am so proud of you," she started with. "But you've been something of an overachiever lately, haven't you. We'll do a ultrasound tomorrow, weigh you, measure you and do some labs. I've met your Dr. Banner, and the lovely Ms. Romanov who have told me a lot about you. So - I don't need to know how you got here. How do you feel?"

"Happy to see you? Is that okay?"

"It's been a long, strange trip, hasn't it? Thank you, you're still flattering when you want to spare my feelings. Try again."

"Huge. Heavy. Starving, but I don't wanna eat. Dizzy when I stand up. And these kids are keeping me awake playing kickball, it feels like."

"Dr. Banner says you think there's more than two. And Natasha says you couldn't get out of bed without help just yesterday."

"Uh huh. Dr. Delia, I know there's more than two - I gotta head jammed into my ribs here, another one over here on the other side, and one of them just loves stretching out across the top. Here - " Guiding her hands to his belly, he had her sweep across its expanse, describing its features. "I remember the twins, and they were nothing like this - "

"Twins. Just once?"

"Yeah. They were overdue too! All of them have been - you can set a calendar by me."

Seating herself, she eyed the contents of Bruce's cart with a weather eye, but only took out the blood pressure cuff and stethoscope. "I'm going to check your blood pressure. You realize if you've gone into pre-eclampsia, I'm going to have to deliver you right now." Happy only looked at her in alarm, but bit his lip and nodded. "Yes, Dr. Delia."

Looking over at the rest of his teammates, Steve was pleased to see relief on all of their faces. "Anything we can do to help, Doctor?"

She only shook her head, finishing the exam and wrapping up the cuff and stethoscope. "That's actually pretty good, compared to what Dr. Banner was telling me. No, I think I have his number - and we will talk, Mr. Hogan - but we'll get better acquainted tomorrow."

"Are you going to stay, Dr. Delia?" It was a small question, coming out of a former boxing champion, and the bodyguard of Tony Stark, but it came nonetheless.

"Just a few floors down, sweetheart. See you in the morning. Ms. Romanov? If you would?"

"I'll show them around," Pepper offered, "And I'll introduce her to JARVIS, Tony."

And as quickly as she had blown in, she left - still chatting with both Pepper and Natasha as they left.

"She hasn't changed a bit either." Happy said, stretching his arms over his head. "'Course my blood pressure's down. Helps to talk, right Boss?"

"Among other things, " Tony replied, shifting his feet. "Only you, Happy. Only you."

###

"You remember the night I met ya, Boss? You were still stinking like a full-on alpha after Colonel Rhodes hugged you good-bye at the airport that night, and you bumped into me at the bar after. I'd just won a title and was out celebratin' - and heating up a little, not gonna lie, shit happens and that alpha with his buddies decided you were the omega, and I was an alpha!"

Breakfast in Happy's suite was coffee, fresh fruit and muffins, along with a slightly bleary-eyed Dr. Perri who hadn't gotten much sleep. Happy, for the most part, hadn't stopped talking, gregarious now when he had been withdrawn earlier.

"To be fair, he'd had a few of his own," Tony said. "Innocent bystander, I swear - but I also wasn't giving much of a crap, I had a whole year at MIT ahead of me without Rhodey, and was kicking the can down the street over it. Never even thought about how much everything must have smelled like him - since I hadn't roomed with anyone else but him, it hadn't come up. And being the only alpha on campus, that kind of sealed the deal."

"An' instead of goin' back to school like a good boy, you decided it was time and long past time you'd tied one on, and out of all the dumpster dive bars in Boston you had to walk into, you just hadta pick the one with an alpha, all boozed up and me. Celebratin! God, what a mess that turned into."

"What did I say that set him off, anyway? I never figured that one out - "

"Gimme a scotch. Seriously - that's it! You were there, stinking to high heaven - silly beta, you never notice that stuff - he smells you, looking at me and is too drunk to notice when he smells me, he's looking at you...and you were cute then, Boss. Totally adorable, like a newly-minted penny - some rich kid goin' to college, slumming around...smelling like a omega cruising for a lay (because, hey - it's me) and when he inquires about your availability - "

"Cut the nice chat, Happy - he walked up and told me to blow him. Right there, right now and I told him to go blow himself, and then it really got nasty."

"Yeah, he decided to just cut to the chase and fuck you, ready or not. Not happen' with me around, y'understand. Guy is twice the Boss' size, and I can tell he's just a lil' beta out minding his own business, so when the alpha throws the first punch, he hits me, cos' I pushed him out of the way. Bounces off my chin, just makes me mad. But then - you decide it's your job to defend me! You jump the guy from behind, crack a bottle over his head and the whole place just erupts. You tell me to run! I just about peed myself, that was hilarious! There you are, riding this guy like a game of chicken, swinging that bottle like a club all the while this alpha is trying to get to you, while I'm trying to get to him - I finally drag you off, sling you over my shoulder and march out of the place like I'm leading a parade, all the while you're kicking and bitchin and complaining and making all kinds of stupid demands like put you down - and well."

"We saw the cops coming. Bazillion cars, lights and sirens. Happy puts me down, grabs me and looks me in the eye. 'You an alpha? Because if you're not, we'd better run - I'm the omega that alpha inside is after, and they ain't gonna care what you are, smelling like that in the pokey."

"Come on!" Both Happy and Tony roared together, swinging their arms, laughing.

Turning to look at Steve, Tony leaned forward until his hands rested on his knees. "He was still wearing nothing but his boxing silks and a bathrobe. Oh, and his title belt. Across his chest. We seriously ran all the way back to my dorm, and I bring him upstairs because - that's what you do in the middle of the night the week after school ends. You bring strange men up to your room that you met during a bar fight. Because he saved your life."

"Well, at least your virtue, which has been called into question ever since," Clint called from his perch at the counter. "I'm loving this, what happened next?"

"Colonel Rhodes was gone off to boot camp, and the bed was empty," Happy began.

"I told him to use the shower and then he slept in it."

"And then we woke up in the morning, and I told you what a lousy fighter you were. And offered to teach you what I knew. Because you were a good guy to try like you did. Appreciated it. All two inches tall and ten feet high of ya."

"You inhaled all the food in the commons at breakfast."

"You bought me a change of clothes at the bookstore. I still have the sweats."

"And we talked."

"Yeah," Happy said, sighing. "About everything, because there was a lot to know. He was leaving for Malibu within a few days, and he hatched this idea of taking me with him. Plus, there was stuff I had to tell him too."

"See, at that point? Neither of us had families. Or many friends. Any friends, let's be real. We ate, got dressed - and it hit me. Why not? He'd just won a title - no more matches that he could fight in his class, so changing locations made more sense. I had more room than brains back home, just me and the bots, and by then Obie was grousing about assigning a detail to me anyway. So. I hired my own. One of the first things JARVIS ever did for me - he mocked up a fake history so Happy would pass the security checks!"

"Thing o' beauty," Happy said and clinked glasses with Tony. "I owe my dusty halo to him."

"Yeah, you slacker. Four months later, you need to take three weeks off, and you don't want to tell me where."

"Yeah, well," Happy murmured, looking away. "You knew I was an omega, you just didn't know I was five months pregnant when I met you."

"When you fought that title bout!" Tony crowed, jabbing a finger in his direction. "When you had that bar fight! Flew home, and got started with Obie - and that wasn't a walk in the park, Pepper can tell you how much that wasn't. Late nights. Bad food. Cranky, whiny-ass little punk-ass me - and then Rhodey shows up and asks me if I've lost my mind - "

"Yeah, you told him. Tell what you said, Boss."

"I told him, and I quote - 'I have not lost my mind, I have found my alibi!' See, having an alpha for a Dad? People already talked, and having a publicly held company like Stark Industries, there's a certain image to consider. If I wasn't an alpha like my Dad, I had to be an omega so help me because they didn't have anything better to do. Didn't matter how many times a genuine, certified alpha like James Rhodes, ROTC head of his class, first alpha allowed to attend college at MIT says it - it's dogged me since I can remember. So every time an alpha comes sniffing around - I have Happy. He's amazing."

"The alphas in question," Happy crowed, putting exclamation marks around 'alphas' with his fingers, "Weren't half bad either." Laughing, Happy held his sides, wincing as the babies tumbled inside him.

"You got your leave. After I picked my jaw up off the floor," Tony said. "But I'll never forget what you said when you got back."

"Naw, naw - that was all you Boss. Tell 'em."

Blowing air, Tony sat back in the chair, crossing his legs. "He walks in, gone for three weeks and looks fresh as a daisy. 'Hey Hogan, you look happy this morning, I said. Get laid last week?'"

Happy shrugged and spread his hands. "Hey, I'm happy and you know it! So knocked up again, you have no idea."

"That's how you got your name," Dr. Perri said, raising her coffee mug. "Clap your hands."

"And I've been Happy ever since," he said, turning bright brown eyes on her. "He offered me a job, but he gave me a home, Dr. Delia. No ifs, no ands or buts, and he's been there for me through thick and thin."

"Sounds like Happy was the playboy, not you Stark."

"Hey, hey, hey! Genius billionaire philanthropist - I'm still that, okay? Take a knee, Spangles."

If it wasn't such a struggle for Happy to get to his feet, most of the worry would probably leave Tony's face, and Steve could go back out without wondering what was happening at the Tower. Clint bantered with Happy, and Natasha kept Pepper calm while Bruce soothed Tony's nerves but the panic was never far from the surface, and Steve found himself looking at Tony's face with two huge, flat black spots where his eyes should be. It would be gone in a flash, Tony grinning when he caught him looking but he hadn't forgotten the ride to the Tower in the middle of the night bringing Happy there yet, himself.

"Most higher order multiples put their mothers on bedrest, Captain," Dr. Perri said, patting him on the shoulder as she went past him into the elevator with Happy, Tony and Bruce down to her level. "He's in good hands now, stop fretting so."

"I wasn't aware I was," he answered. "I'm more concerned about Stark."

"He wasn't paying attention, and he thinks Happy tells him everything," she said, looking toward the elevator. "My young friend Harry only looks big and dumb, Captain. He has a mind like a steel trap, a very long memory and no little intelligence. Also, a peculiar sense of justice. If I'm right, and I will find out - our dear Mr. Hogan has had over thirty children, probably closer to forty with nobody the wiser."

Remembering the cipher book, Steve nodded. "I think I can confirm that, oddly enough. He's kept records, we found one. Just a notebook, everything written in a cipher he learned in his foster home. If Stark hasn't burned it yet, you might ask him about it."

The doctor blew air, closing her eyes. "I taught him that cipher after delivering the baby he placed with my sister. He's still doing it?"

"It's very small print, m'am."

She only shook her head again. "See you in a few hours, Captain."

###

It was her. Down to the Chanel No. 5 perfume, the soft pastel blue of her sweater, the simple gold chain around her neck and how she nibbled on the end of the stylus as she wrote down her notes. Late night tummyaches and skinned knees, learning to like fish sticks and science homework.

Loving the sight of her when she came to Havenwood to take him home with her before he went into labor, staying with him throughout and bossing the other nurses around while he found his own groove to deliver the baby in.

 _I love you._ It rang in his head over and over again.

"I miss your hair, Dr. Delia. I never saw anything like it on anyone else. Brown, but gold where the light hit it. Did it all go to silver?"

Sparing him a fond look as she read the monitor, she made a note then hugged the tablet to her chest as she kept the stylus between her fingers. "L'Oreal not to your taste, Harry? I think I like Happy better, but old habits die hard."

"You call me Harold, I know I'm in deep sauce."

"Yes, yes you would be. _Harold Mattias_."

Gulping in shame, Happy reached for the smoothie Tony had made for him that morning, before bringing him down to her research suite.

The facilities were delightful, as well appointed as Odelia could have asked for and it was a simple matter to set up a small exam area near both a bench and a workstation, attaching the ultrasound, cardiac monitor and fetal doppler devices provided to her.

The problem was their designer, who hadn't actually used the devices off the shelf before - and while it may have crossed in conversation that Tony Stark was a perfectionist, seeing it in action was something else entirely.

"No, Tony - you can't open the back up now, she has to use the thing!" Happy watch Odelia discover she had a special place in her heart for Bruce Banner, like most people, having assumed he was short-tempered before actually spending time with him. Now?

"Bruce, it'll just take a minute - the variance on these readings is wa-a-a-ay off, it's ridiculous - "

"It's within tolerances, and you're being ridiculous, now put down the screwdriver and leave it - "

Happy was already seated on the table, head raised as he watched the science twins with a bored expression, slurping away. "This is old home week, isn't it?" she directed at him. Looking up at her, he shrugged and spread a hand.

"Call Ms. Potts, Dr. Delia. Jus' put her on the line and let her listen for a sec."

Following his directions, she greeted the CEO of one of the largest multinationals in the world with "Good morning, Pepper? I'm told you should hear this."

He could almost hear the eyeroll, after she put the call on speaker. "Won't be a moment, thanks for letting me know. I'd say he isn't always this way, but he is."

"I completely understand. I wonder if his mother gave him doublestick tape as a toddler to keep him out of her hair."

Just as he thought he might get into a tug-of-war with the ultrasound machine, the phone in Tony's pocket started ringing and he put the equipment down, striding away out of the lab to answer it. "What is it now, can't you tell I'm -"

Bruce locked the door behind him with a flourish. When Tony spun around at the sound of the lock, Bruce only smiled and waved at him before turning around to face the two of them, rubbing his hands together. "Well, this is quieter. Shall we begin?"

She took a set of vitals, noting them on the electronic chart already established. As promised, she completed a large number of exams, including a 16 lead EKG, took blood that Bruce prepared for analysis and sent Happy to the bathroom to pee in a cup.

"No evidence of diabetes, big surprise. You've got weight history recorded here - most of it with only a plus or minus twenty pounds."

"Yeah, well. I try to keep up my training, I have to keep up with the Boss."

"All it pregnant?"

The look he gave his childhood doctor was steady, if a bit guilty. "How close is it to 280? Yeah, all of it."

"You're sixty-three pounds over that right now. At almost twenty-five weeks gestation, that's not bad for quints but a lot more than twenty, isn't it?" Moving the ultrasound into position, she checked that the lubricant was warming as she turned on the machine. "So let's confirm that. This is the part I've been waiting for. I'm expecting to see something quite different from the last time, but even then - you were different, period. You haven't asked what I've been up to, Happy."

Raising the hem of the top he was wearing, Happy leaned back to allow her to conduct the exam. "Didn't want to pry. Not like I kept up with you or anything."

"You could ask, honey."

"Left you behind, I don't deserve to. How is she? Your sister, I mean."

She arched an eyebrow at that. "My sister is fine and not speaking to me, she doesn't approve of some of my life choices," she answered smoothly, "My niece, on the other hand - smart, sassy, pretty - healthy as a horse, married with two children and another on the way, all of them beta and all of them with her jet black hair and green eyes. All of them."

"My baby? That doesn't sound - "

"No, it doesn't," she finished, picking up the warmed bottle of lubricant, putting it to the side. "I've looked into her face all her life, searching for you and never saw a trace."

"That's not her father, neither. Maybe a little of the green eyes, but his were hazel and his hair was like mine. Black - and straight?"

"The genetics aren't supposed to work that way," Dr. Banner added, joining them. "Hey, you're a grandparent."

"No surprise, I'm only sixteen years older than her," he grumbled, but grinned nonetheless. "She got a fella?"

"She got a fella, dear. Worships the ground she walks on and adores me. He'll do." She carefully pushed the top back even further, exposing his abdomen, sternum to pubis, moving her hands to define the fundus, top to bottom..and then side to side. "I expected more stretch marks, but you never got them, so. Rectus abdominis - about what I expected. See here, Dr. Banner? Diastasis present, but holding well."

The lubricant went on warm and slippery, and the sensation of the wand was new. "No, dear. I couldn't figure it out either, and that's when my professional career took a side trip. I'm a researcher now, I study the embryonic origin of meta-gender. More to the point - I've got a hunch there's something close to chimeric twinning going on most of the time, in addition to the genetics that all the genders share. So, while I'm expecting to see babies - I'm also expecting to see some variances in anatomy. I remember you had an unusually large uterus, but it wasn't out of proportion to the rest of you so it wasn't considered a pathology."

"Drs. Banner and Perri, Mr. Hogan - Sir would like to come back in." Slapping a hand over his mouth, Happy tried not to laugh as she put the wand down as Bruce rolled his eyes.

"That's JARVIS, Dr. Delia. Oh jeez, look at him over there. Let 'em in before he breaks my heart, the poor slob. He hates bein' left out of stuff."

"Ms. Potts introduced me last night, he's delightful and it's your call."

"Tell 'em to behave, J. And open the door."

###

"One...two...three...four...and quit hiding there, five." Marking and taking measurements, Dr. Perri continued to slowly scan Happy's abdomen. "And there's a contraction, so we'll hold for a moment."

"Not so bad - just a little pinch..." Happy looked to the ceiling, watching Tony and Bruce react didn't help as everything around his waist contracted in on itself and he was reminded acutely just how big everything had grown. "Not the real thing. Real thing crosses your eyes. Phwew..."

Looking up at her, he was reassured as she only looked back and smiled softly. "You are so grounded, mister," she said.

"Tell me about it," he replied, then chuckled. "So I was right. By the numbers, I figured it out on my own."

"Can you tell, y'know - how many are what?" Happy knew the Boss could read the ultrasound as well as Dr. Delia could, but watching him get curious about what he saw on the screen, looking back to Bruce to see if he saw what he did was a sheer pleasure. The Boss was happy. _I love you_ echoed in Happy's head as he saw him grin, and elbow Bruce, who only rubbed the offended appendage smiling quietly back at him. But just as enthralled, and Happy loved that about Bruce.

"I'm more interested in how they're arranged. I think we have two dichorionic diamniotic twins, and a singleton...which is good, no problems there. It's just the amount of space - and the shape of the womb. That's kind of wonky. We'd be dealing with compression issues by now in a beta pregnancy of this type, and I see no sign of it yet. Dr. Banner, see this? I'm going to take another set of scans after delivery to confirm, but this is the uterine wall - check the thickness of the myometrium. I'd expect to see this at twelve, fourteen weeks, not a few weeks away from the third trimester."

"I just got a big belly, is that what you're saying?"

Taking a few more measurements, she finished the exam and saved the results, putting the wand away and began to wipe the lubricant off. "I doubt that uterus ever rests behind the rest of your anatomy like it does in betas. With only one fetus, it would - " She pulled up a smaller window on the screen and did some calculations. "Hardly change at all. Hence, the secret to your success. I do have one question, though."

"Shoot."

"Did you love them? The alpha who sired these babies, dear. Did you love them? Or should I say, do - "

"They're off the waiting list," Happy said, beginning his answer. "Word gets around, it's good for everyone...I got a dance card for when I need an alpha, and there isn't one around who needs an omega. Doc, I heat up whether or not I got someone special. I make sure the kid has a home waiting for it, I am sure - and I got JARVIS to help, so no fooling around - sure, Dr. Delia, months ahead of time where the baby is going to go, and with whom." He took a breath and pulled down his top again, smoothing it over as he felt two feet press into his hand. "It's my life we're talking about here."

She grew somber, pressing her lips together as she folded her arms. "You know Alphas are dangerous, and hard to predict when they're in heat. How do you handle knowing you're putting yourself at risk like this?

"Dangerous? Nah. I'm not worried. I can handle myself just fine, and I got the titles to prove it. It's just - I wish. I wish people would get over the idea an alpha in heat is some kind of uncontrollable wild animal, yanno? I mean, you put anyone under enough pressure and they'll snap, sure - why are people so surprised when alphas get frustrated and violent when that's all anyone expects, anyway?" Looking to both Tony and Bruce, he saw some of the concern on their faces as well. But when Tony gestured for him to continue, he did.

"I mean. Come on. Tease a dog with a steak long enough and it'll bite your hand to get the steak away from you. Promise an alpha you'll love 'em, give up your heat to 'em, carry their kids - whatever - and then break that promise with another het-up alpha right in front of 'em? I seen it! And it's nasty! Only time - seriously - _only_ time I ever saw two alphas fight over an omega, it was before I met the boss - real nasty domestic thing in the apartment building I was living in. Knew all of 'em." Wincing, he look back at Tony.

"Before you knew me, right Hap?" he said quietly, but there was a tone of iron there Happy knew not to cross. "What happened next?"

"They didn't know I was an omega, I'd just gotten back from - yanno. Having one. And heating up for the next one when all of a sudden, crashing and screaming like they was on fire - the alpha/omega couple from upstairs starts having a knock-down, drag-out donnybrook." Taking a deep breath, he looked into midspace as he remembered.

"Turns out the omega was having some on the side with another alpha. Like, so much so nobody noticed me at all! All tied up together, they couldn't get away and that husband, the alpha who lived there and took care of everything? Lost it. Totally. Fucking. Lost it. Started screaming, and crying and begging - just horrible stuff. The cops show up, they beat up the one alpha making the ruckus, because that's what you do - you beat up the alpha that isn't having sex yet - and put him in the squad car while all of us are standing around gawking at it all." Reaching for the carafe that had held the smoothie, Bruce intercepted his hand with a glass of plain tap water, and he drank it as he looked back at the physicist in gratitude. "Mind, he had a nasty possessive streak, that alpha. But this wasn't all his fault -"

"What did you do?" she asked.

"I took him," said, gulping hard.

"You what," Tony said. Bruce had dropped his jaw.

"I went down to the squad car and took him. Out. Like, opened the door while they was still upstairs trying to sort things out with the kids - did I mention the kids? Right - six little stairsteps standing around watching their world fall apart, anyway - and I started talking to him, offered him a deal. If he calmed down, he could have me instead. Hey, I knew the family - I liked them. They deserved better. But I made a deal - there was a place for that knot he was building up to, and there would be no problems - if he stopped being stupid, stopped being greedy and started being a decent person again. I got through to 'em. Closed the door. Let the cops come down and see the guy, as he was every other day of the year - no threat to anyone, mild as milk and cookies.

"You got a place to go?" they said. He said yup, he sure did and they let him go.

"So, where did you go? I assume he went with you -" Dr. Delia rocked back on her heels, cocking her head at him while the Boss only started shaking his head, rubbing his face with one hand.

"Yeah. Got him off the reservation, checked into a little place I knew a couple of burrows over. Nice. Soundproofed. Popped a bunch of knots, poor guy. Relationship had been on the rocks longer than I thought -

"But the first time? I got him lined up and took his knot, let him come - oh, all he could, you know how it goes. But I didn't let go of him. And I sat him up - face to face with me, me sitting on his knot and just messing with it a little. I says to him - "You married him, sure. He married you, and that counts for something. But you don't own him. He don't belong to you, just like I don't belong to you. You don't own anyone with this knot, buddy. You get this because I said so, and I get this because you said so. " He start talking shit - and I just _squeezed_. "You ask for this, pal? You want me to decide if you come or go? I'm not letting go until you admit it. Because I'm telling you - I can, just like you thought you could. You can make him - but it's dirty, and it's wrong. _And it's not love._ "

Feeling himself getting angry, Happy took a deep breath as he watched the faces of his audience grow thoughtful. This time, the Boss nudged his hand with another cup of water and he took it with a sigh of relief.

"No big deal. He comes again, all the better for me. So I did that a bunch of times, and it took some doing but I brought him around. We talked about a bunch of stuff, after that. Between knots. Spent a week with him, and I'm pretty sure it did him some good. I couldn't live there anymore, o'course. Moved out the same day I brought him home, matter of fact - I'd caught. Hey, me - remember? Didn't tell him until I was already down in Florida, doing a security gig for a contact - and he told me the marriage broke up, and he'd gone home to Bulgaria - fancy that! - with the kids. Thanked me. And gave me permission to place the baby with someone on the waiting list. Which I did. That one was good company, down there. Didn't know a soul.

"The baby? You remember?" It was the first time Dr. Delia had mentioned any of his other babies, and it made her look sad somehow.

"I remember all of them, Dr. Delia. I'm no monster."

"It seems kind of odd, remembering over thirty babies you gave away before you could see their faces, hon."

Happy looked down at his belly. "It doesn't happen all at once. It happens one at a time. Every time it's different." Looking up, Happy found himself tearing up in spite of himself. "I remember them all, o'course I do. They kicked, and pushed and danced under my heart. All of 'em a little different. That one I just told you about? Loved mexican food, the hotter the better and would just turn somersaults inside me when I ate it. None of the others was like that, and mariachi music put her to sleep. Yeah, she was a girl. Loved that one."

Happy took a tissue from her, and blotted his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Dr. Delia, I know you mean well and it's a lot to take in, but I remember them. And I miss them. But it's not like I lost them all at once. You love them, and you let them go. One at a time. Like clockwork, if you're me."

"You're saying you loved each of your children, and let them go. Over thirty times."

"One baby. Over thirty times. Yeah, I did."

"And you've kept this to yourself, all this time. That's...incredible."

"M'am, I'm nothing but a sloppy cum-bucket of an ugly old omega, just trying to get by. I am what I am. All I've done is find a way to stay under the radar while living the best life I can, doing what I'm good at."

"You could have chosen any number of other alternatives - marriage, surrogacy...."

"Yeah, but then everybody would know I was an omega. And no. Nu-uh. I had my fill of that growing up, okay? I pass as a beta, I get my freedom. _I get to choose._ I was a prizefighter, and I was good! I've traveled all over the world, seen so many things - because nobody stopped me. I can look after the Boss and Ms. Potts. And I get to have kids for people who can't. I know that's something because they all start with me. Right here," Happy said, patting his belly. "I didn't ask for this. But dammit, I deserve to make the best of it."

A hand on his shoulder, squeezing as hard as he dared - that was the Boss. A few harshly indrawn breaths, that was Dr. Banner. Dr. Delia only looked back at him evenly, not judging or upset and he loved her for that. "Yes, Mr. Hogan. I believe you do too. Thank you for answering my questions."

###

Dr. Perri marked a date on the calendar, the week before Thanksgiving. "I have every reason to believe he'll carry to term, so we've got some time to kill, people."

Sitting in the common room in Happy's suite, she addressed the small group seated around Happy in his lounger. "Mr. Stark, is it possible the Maria Stark Foundation might have enough members with the right qualifications to serve as delivery room staff? I'm going to ask for at least four teams, this is going to be a lot of babies, all at once. I have a lot of confidence in all your abilities to adapt in a crisis, but I don't expect you all to become trained nurses in three months."

"Taking a sick call once does not make me a midwife," Tony answered, looking to Pepper who smiled back, making a note. "We don't ask, we don't get. Sure."

"Don't you write that down, I directed that at Mr. Stark - Ms. Potts, you go back to work. This Tower isn't going to rebuild itself, and it needs its civil engineer at the helm, let alone Stark Industries needing its CEO where she belongs. You got time, Tony. Take Natasha with you, she's good at this, When she's not needed by SHIELD, of course." Happy was doing his best not to laugh as both their faces dropped, and when the Boss turned to glare at him, he did his best to look like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.

"Agent Barton, if you would when you're not needed, work with Dr. Banner to keep things moving around here?"

"Feed, water, exercise - yeah, I guess so. Hope you like cards."

"I'll wipe the floor with ya," Happy said.

"Dr. Banner - go back to work. Seriously."

"Yes, m'am," Bruce replied, but looking away as a smile twisted his lips.

"And me, Dr. Perri?" Steve Rogers, sitting between Natasha and Clint, looked up with a focus and energy Happy envied.

"That...depends." Her tone softening, she turned to look directly at Happy. "I want your records, if you'll share them with me."

"My journals? I don't keep 'em nearby, just the backup copies - like the one you guys found. And the keys are kept separate. It'll take a while to get to the master, with everything in it." He wasn't surprised she wanted them, but he wasn't entirely willing to reveal where they were either.

"Do you trust the Captain, there?" she asked kindly.

Happy considered it for a moment as the rest of the room went quiet. "I don't want your word, Cap'n. This ain't about that." Shifting in his seat uncomfortably, he chose his next words with some care. "You decide what's right, then you do. If I'm not on your side, you may not do what I want - so I'm going to be really careful what I let you know about. That okay?"

It sat with him like a wedge of fresh lemon, but he nodded slowly. "To the letter," Steve replied.

"I let JARVIS have the locations of the journals, it's part of my will," Happy said, sighing. "About time the Boss knew I have one, I guess. That's all he's got, just the locations. What do you want with them? You going to go call on all of them? That wasn't the deal I made with them, y'know. They get to have their lives without me interferin' - and if they want me, they can drop a message and I'll answer. So far, nobody has. I don't cross that line."

"I don't think I will have to, either. What I want, I can get without contacting them. Public records go a long, long way these days."

"Does...your niece know you're here?" Happy said slowly.

"No, but she knows who you are. When she turned 18, she asked me and I told her. That, my dearling is why my sister no longer talks to me."

"Okay," he said in a small voice.

"Like you, she has a strong sense of boundaries," the researcher added. "She wanted what anyone else wanted - to know where she came from. That satisfied, she decided to not take it any further."

###

It wasn't a week before the Maria Stark Foundation provided the staffing Dr. Perri had asked for, and when he wasn't checking in on Happy (and he did, even in the wee hours of the morning after pulling an all-nighter with Bruce in his labs) Tony was found working with Pepper on the Tower remodel as well as working with Stark Industries as it suited him. Seeing his old friend safe, secure and content had a lot to do it.

Pepper made a point of spending at least one or two afternoons on his floor, even if it was working from her laptop at the kitchen counter.

Natasha started being pulled away for SHIELD missions, and often took Steve with her. Clint, for his part did much the same but the three of them were never gone at the same time.

Bruce came up in the mornings to check on him, and often would watch a movie or television with him.

Happy slept when he could, long lazy naps to pass the time, wrote long missives to the parents and related facilitators clarifying the adoption process, and listened to music while looking out onto the Hudson.

Steve was sent out on two missions. One, to Kansas where the master list was buried under a grain silo belonging to a division of Stark Industries, the other to a vault in Zurich where the keys were kept, not in a safe deposit box, but at the bottom of the lake. It took almost the rest of the time to decode them all, but once complete, JARVIS did the rest.

"Dr. Perri, there is a 98% probability these are the individuals you seek."

She thanked him, but didn't ask if he wanted to know any more - and beyond confirming she would not contact anyone in the records, he said nothing more.

The days passed, and Tony had to move him to larger furniture as the babies grew. "They're all on target to be over nine pounds, in line with your previous pregnancies."

"That a nice way to say you're going to be over four hundred pounds by the time this is over," Tony groused. He still hadn't liked being called out for doing the legwork with the Foundation, but after Dr. Perri had pulled him aside and explained that it was for his own benefit, so that he could decide who got access to his best friend and who didn't, he'd relented, but only a little.

Natasha found out Happy's passion for Downton Abbey, and that he wrote her favorite series of trashy romances under a pen name. Finishing a set of galleys while he waited, she nested with him for the week reading the book, silent as a shadow and content as a cat sleeping in a sunbeam.

She helped Dr. Perri convert part of the floor into a birthing suite, even as Happy complained it was too much fuss.

September passed into October, and as Fall started inching towards Winter in New York, Pepper would bring him baskets of fall leaves, and Steve found pine cones. Fires were set in the fireplaces, and warm lap ropes were added to his lounger. The babies got larger, better defined and Happy often knew which one was where. One slept most of the time on his backbone, another cradled low against his pubic bone. The two most active ones chased each other in the middle, with the last perched under his rib cage, pressing outward with both feet and hands.

"The alphas are taking custody of them," he told the team one night over dinner. "They're going to have to come in from overseas, they don't live in the United States."

"Do we get to meet them?" Munching on an apple, Clint looked over to watch Happy's belly knock the tablet he'd perched there off onto the floor. Rising, he got up to return it to them. "Is that allowed?"

"I don't know how to avoid it, you're all right here."

"Is that what you want?" Tony continued to work on the schematic for another new suit design, not looking at Happy as he spoke.

"I gotta tell them. I want them there when they're born. So they can take them home right after, I don't want them to linger. Their kids, their plan. That's how it always works."

"I'm going to miss that sack of potatoes there, Chief," Clint said.

"We'll clear some space in the guest suites, Happy," Pepper said from where she stood looking out of the windows. "Don't worry."

"Okay," he said to the room. "Thanks."

He let Steve draw while he sat with him in the last weeks leading up, but never of him.

###

The first week of November, the alphas arrived.

Not wanting to be introduced to him, Tony had to watch on the monitors as they were escorted to their suite by set of security detail picked by Happy himself. "Irish Olympic hockey players."

"Both married, and they can't have kids - they married for love, but they married alphas too and well, yeah," Happy said, his face difficult to read as he watched them enter the building with him. "It's chummy, they all know each other and they'll raise them all together. Dunno if they'll be able to tell which one fathered what from the DNA, but they agreed to allow Dr. Delia to take some blood to find out. Part of her research."

"You sure know how to pick 'em, Hap."

"Sure, Boss," he said. "Sure."

He couldn't remember the last time he was comfortable.

A few nights later, he lost the last of his patience and began to pace along the windows of his suite as Bruce napped in one of the club chairs. Contractions? They happened so often, he'd begun to ignore them.

So when the urge to push arrived, he kicked himself but did it all the same. "J - call someone, wake someone up - whatever."

He didn't remember who got there first, only that he heard Dr. Delia and knew he wasn't alone...but he would be, real soon. Sooner than he would like.

How did the room get so crowded. When was it going to end. Now? **Now**?

He couldn't breathe and someone put a mask over his face. He was being touched, undressed and washed - no, that was somebody taking a baby away, and they were delivering the afterbirth. One cry, then two more. Another. One more. The contractions ebbed and died away and he was alone, surrounded by a sea of people chattering and moving around him.

"Deep breath. Another," Dr. Delia, at his shoulder. "Here's your shot, it's all done. Nine, one, nine, eight, female beta. Nine five, ten two, male beta. Eleven one, male omega. What a bruiser - all of them with the reddest hair I ever saw."

He couldn't keep his eyes open, he'd never been so tired. "D'ya got what you need, Dr. Delia?"

"I do, sweetheart."

"Did they take all of them, even the...."

"They did. Even the omega. They just want to know if you want to say good bye."

"Been saying it since this all started," he heard himself say. It seemed like such a long way away. "S'all good. Say thank you."

"I'll let them know. Your friends are worried, but I'll let you get some rest before I let them in."

"Tell the Boss I'm sorry," he said, and then the darkness took him.  _I love you._

###

"They just took them and left," Tony said, sitting at the bar. "It happened again, just like before and they're _gone_."

Pepper only hugged herself and stared out of the windows with huge, wet eyes. Natasha stood in the doorway, leaning away from the others with a frosty glare Clint knew better than to broach and he waved away both Steve and Bruce, silent and shaking his head.

"It's what he wanted," Bruce said lamely. "It's what works."

"Over thirty times," Steve spat, "Now, over forty times. Good bye. You do it because you have to."

"Well, now he gets his life back, I guess. Couple of weeks, back in heat and he'll be back with Pep and I, week or so after that, right as rain. Dr. Perri gives me back a floor of lab space, Happy makes another entry in his journals and life goes on."

"A family in Ireland now has five children," Clint murmured. "Where there weren't any before. And Happy Hogan is still a beta, with all the rights and privileges, harming no one...."

"But what a loss," Pepper whispered.

###

The week leading up to his next heat was spent saying good bye to his "ground team" as he'd put it. And enjoying wearing clothes, real clothes again! The Boss had decided on going back to Malibu, there were armors to build and the way he wandered the perimeter of the suite he'd lived in since July saddened Happy in a way he hadn't anticipated. _But I knew it would_ , a voice inside him said. Tell the Boss too much, and he would beat himself bloody trying to undo it.

SHIELD was calling Natasha away, and he slid an autographed copy of his latest novel in her backpack. She was taking Steve with her, and that seemed right somehow. Clint had said his good byes first, letting Happy tuck one last apple into a jacket pocket.

Bruce was sad in a way he could barely understand. He would pick up a deck of cards and stare at them. He couldn't eat the macaroni and cheese he made him the last night they were there. If it was anger, and Happy thought it was, it wasn't directed at him, but it was there all the same.

"I love you," he'd said to Clint. The archer had only chucked him under the chin and walked away.

"I love you, love you too," he'd said as Steve and Natasha had boarded the quinjet bound for Washington DC.

"And I love you," Dr. Delia had whispered in his ear as she hugged him good bye. "I should have known, I've seen an alpha with three sets of testes, and two more sets undescended - you're chimeric in the reproductive organs."

When he said he didn't understand, she brushed away her tears and held his shoulders in her hands, shaking him slightly. "You're giving birth to your niblings, honey. None of those babies is related to you, but to a quadruplet your embryo absorbed at conception. Three sets of ovaries, in addition to the one set of testes and a trifurcated uterus. Suppressants - would never have worked. Maybe, when I'm ready for trials for the contraceptives I'm working on, you'd be willing to give it a try?"

"I love you," he said, and nothing more.

Bruce, he held as long as the scientist would let him. "I'll look after the Boss. And Ms. Potts. But we're leaving you in charge of the store."

"I won't blow anything up without you," he'd said.

"Love you, Doc. Don't forget."

"I won't."

Pepper's smile got braver, and it encouraged Happy no end when she let him make her laugh. "It's okay, Ms. Potts," he said to her. "I knew the job was dangerous when I took it!"

The Boss? He knew him too well.

First night back home in the old digs, he cornered Tony on the balcony, just standing there as the sunset and waves crashed onto the rocks below them. "Boss, are you sorry you met me?" he asked. "Because if you are, I'd get why. But I can't deal with hurting you like this. I do this, goin' in that it's gonna hurt. But it's not okay if it hurts you too."

Tony wouldn't look at him, but the way he gritted his teeth told Happy he was listening. "Boss, " he said slowly. "I love you. I love you like I love them, and I only want the best for them. That ain't me, so be it. Please. It's not your fault, or anything you didn't do. I want to help you, be good for ya. It's just what works, and it's what I'm here to do, I guess."

"That ever changes," Tony had ground out, "You tell me first."

"No problem."

He turned then, and looked at Happy out of the corner of his eye. "You're Happy. And I know it."

"In a couple o' weeks, sure." Shrugging, he grinned as he turned to look out at the ocean. "Remember that blond account rep from the last audit last year? She's Canadian, got a ranch up in Alberta her fella runs with their three kids and they're hoping for one more."

"Only you, Hap. Only you."

"Happy and I know it, the end!"

\--30--


	2. Worldbuild Notes for MoC

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here. Adjust your viewing goggles. Hand-wavy science to a minimum, but it's in there.
> 
> AKA "No need for assbabies."
> 
> (I always thought there were better ways to co-opt the anatomy than that.)

For the purposes of this story there are roughly six genders: Male & Female Beta, Male & Female Alpha, and Male & Female Omega. Essentially, Female Alphas and Male Omegas are complete mosaic hermaphrodites, with two sets of completely functional genitals. Male omegas are identifiable at birth due to having both descended testes and a vagina. Female alphas aren't always identified until puberty, where they develop testes in addition to the existing ovaries and vagina, the urinary and reproductive tracts remaining separate. Female omegas are the rarest of the sub-genders, occurring largely in medical textbooks as they present with two complete sets of ovaries and vaginas, and most commonly do not survive gestation. Male Alphas are identified at puberty, when the knot develops and other characteristics become evident. In a large number of cases, two sets of testes are present (one pair undescended at birth) and a structure resembling a second bladder, co-opted from the uterus, rests behind the bladder and is a secondary source of fluids to be mixed with sperm to form semen. "Like sittin' on a cactus for those guys," Happy says. "You gotta feel sorry for 'em."

The betas are like everyone running around - largely demisexual in comparison to the alphas and omegas, who are tied to a 30 day estrus cycle, can scent a potential mate and are far more fertile than their beta counterparts. It's widely believed that the meta-gendered are descended from a common ancestor of homo sapiens, but aren't truly as human as the beta population. In truth, it's likely a spontaneous mutation related to twinning/chimeras.

By population, meta-genders of any type divergent from the betas are less than five percent of the population (think somewhere between how often Down's Syndrome shows up and how many serial killers there are at any given time). The impact they have on society at large is oversized to their actual numbers, with a large amount of urban mythology justifying the discrimination based on their sexuality. They are closely monitored, historically cloistered, festished, enslaved - in general, not considered as good as 'normal humans.' With the advent of chemical castration (suppressants), society has allowed for more liberty for the meta-gendered, as long as they "pass." An alpha off suppressants is considered a proto-rapist, and an omega is considered an accessory to any sexual assault, unable to give consent (or withhold it). In addition, omegas (mostly male) are not considered masculine or entitled to conform to traditional norms. It's closer to watching women enter traditionally male-held roles a few decades ago. ("Well, she can be a welder, but why would she want to?") Only when you pass, do you get to be who you believe you are, without question, judgment or restrictions. It has less to do with D/s relationships (but I strongly suspect you could find some Dominant AF omegas in this verse as well as submissive alphas, to each their own!) than most takes on this trope.

Happy struggles not to continually define himself as nothing more than a slut, but that's what allows him to pass. It's things like taking a stand against making assumptions about the meta-gendered (like Eddie's Laws) that make it possible for more of the meta-gendered to pass unnoticed into society. It's very "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" at this point, but unless an alpha steps out of line, or an omega is outed, the meta-gendered can live reasonably peaceful lives.

Notes subject to improvement. *^^*

There are also about two alphas to every omega. Alpha females, while fertile, aren't as fertile as their beta counterparts, and nobody is as fertile as an omega.

Also, one thing that really never entered into the worldbuilding - if this is so dangerous, why isn't elective termination an option? To be fair, pregnancies can end for any number of reasons, with help or not. I would expect that the betas experience the bulk of them, simply by sheer number - alphas and omegas are RARE, like you could count the ones you've been introduced to in your lifetime on fingers and toes, and knowing one well? One or two, your entire life. Elective termination (abortion) - why doesn't it happen with omegas - 

Think how involved this is, and the complications of the anatomy. Likely, it would be risky, a bloody mess and unless you did it surgically (which is huge by itself), unreliable as to success and likely to cause more harm. Hormonal blocks won't cut it. That's not an intentional slant on my part (I'm not going to tell anyone to have children or not to have children, and if you need plan B or a trip to PP for prenatal checkups - I'm your huckleberry), but once I closed the story, I had a head-cock moment because I hadn't addressed it at all.

Alphas and omegas are a sport, genetically speaking. They're as beta as the rest of the population, just doubled, tripled or higher, genetically, depending on where you sample. For more on that, [you might check out this](http://guardianlv.com/2014/01/pregnancy-no-proof-of-motherhood-woman-was-her-own-twin-and-the-twin-was-the-mother-of-her-children/) and [this story.](http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199801153380305)

Also, [thank you, Time magazine for handing me a great backup to the research pile.](http://time.com/4475634/trans-man-pregnancy-evan/)

**Author's Note:**

> WHEW. This could be 100,000 words long, I swear. I just ran out of time.
> 
> Check Chapter 2 for worldbuild notes. I'll happily revisit this 'verse again. Comments welcomed with open arms, fed chocolate, gingersnaps and given good homes. Thank you for reading.
> 
> And blame copperbadge for teaching me how to use Evernote to write anywhere, anytime. This fic was made possible by that.


End file.
